Helmut Schmidt and the Shaping of Western Security in the Late 1970s
The Guadeloupe Summit of 1979
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12050883 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristina Spohr (Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 167-192 |
| Publication date | 2013-11-25 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The International History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0707-5332 • E-ISSN: 1949-6540 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07075332.2013.836125 |
| OpenAlex | W2056036953 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
On 5 and 6 January 1979, US President Jimmy Carter, British Prime Minister James Callaghan, French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt met on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. These secret talks à quatre were intended to be a relaxed frank and free exchange on the current state of global politics, though Western security issues lay at the discussions’ heart. As we now know, it had been Schmidt who, behind the scenes, had been pressing the Carter administration to pursue informal (transatlantic) summitry - the Chancellor's preferred modus operandi. In view of growing Euro-strategic imbalances due to Soviet arms build-up, he sought to achieve political co-ordination among the key North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) players on the theatre-nuclear-forces-modernisation-cum-arms-control issue. Schmidt's pushiness reflected West Germany's new political assertiveness, but also the Chancellor's desire to personally promote national interests in nuclear politics at the top table (similar to his approach as a shaper of international economic and energy policies). This article will explore why this ‘parley at the summit’ mattered, how within this intimate forum Schmidt pursued his goals, what diplomatic tactics and methods he employed, and to what extent he managed to control and shape proceedings and outcomes
Administration (probate law · Arms control · Cartography · Economic history · Geography · German · Modernization theory · National security · North Atlantic Treaty · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Summit · Treaty · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · History · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Public Administration
| Citations per year | 0.6 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2020 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |