Co-authored with Karl Cordell and subsequently published in Foreign Policy Analysis, this article takes a constructivist approach to foreign policy analysis. Using German policy vis-à-vis Poland and Czechoslovakia/the Czech Republic as an example, we examine Ostpolitik since the 1960s as a case of a norm-driven foreign policy. We argue that the content of Ostpolitik, including changes over time, can be explained by reference to a prevailing norm consensus in Germany about the country’s foreign policy towards Central and Eastern Europe, which began to develop in the 1960s.
An open-access version of the article is available on JSTOR.