6 - Protégé and Partner - The United States and the Return of West Germany to the Liberal World Economic System

Summary

The creation of a liberal world economic system organized on multilateral lines was one of the economic and political priorities of both the United States and West Germany after World War II, though for different reasons. In the United States, besides short-term and longterm economic aims - smoothing the transition from wartime to peacetime production, reconstruction of a world economy still suffering from the effects of the global economic crisis and the disintegration that followed, stability and prosperity based on free world trade - political and strategic considerations linked to the systemic conflict against communism were decisive from 1946-7 onward. In West Germany, the primary concern was the dependence on exports, which had become even more severe after Germany's division. Although the pre-1914 era was often evoked as a desirable model, American politicians and experts in particular were determined that this time the liberal order would be achieved by political means and secured for the long term by institutional means. In contrast to the situation after World War I, the United States was now prepared to take on the leading role its economic standing warranted. The Federal Republic rapidly progressed to become the junior partner of the United States and the more or less willing pacesetter for liberalization in Western Europe, thus restoring Germany's traditional status as a major trading power.