| Faculty Research Lecture Series
Carole Fink
"Ostpolitik, 1969-1974: the European and Global Response"
Monday, May 11, 2009
Noon
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201
Carole Fink is Humanities Distinguished Professor of History and an associate of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. She is author or editor of 12 books and more than 50 articles, chapters and monographs on European international history and historiography.
Fink's scholarship has been widely recognized. She is two-time winner of the George Louis Beer Prize of the American Historical Association for the best work in European International History for The Genoa Conference: European Diplomacy, 1921-1922 (North Carolina, 1984) and Defending the Rights of Others: The Great Powers, the Jews, and International Minority Protection, 1878-1938 (Cambridge, 2004), which also won the Akira Ariye Prize for Best Book in International History from the Foundation for Pacific Quest. Her book Marc Bloch: A Life in History (Cambridge, 1989) has been translated into six languages.
Fink will be speaking about her most recent book, Ostpolitik, 1969-1974: European and Global Responses (Cambridge University Press, 2009), edited with Bernd Schaeffer. The book examines the worldwide effects of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik, the audacious and controversial policy of normalizing relations with East Germany, the Soviet Union, and other Eastern European states. Brandt's goal was to end confrontation across the Iron Curtain and peacefully overcome Europe's Cold War division.
Ostpolitik paralleled but also diverged from the U.S. détente, contributed to easing tensions in Europe, and ultimately led to the end of division in Germany and Europe. It also stimulated hopes and fears in places such as India, Korea, China, and South Africa for similar models of rapprochement with the enemy. The book is the product of a 2006 conference sponsored by the Mershon Center and German Historical Institute.
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Carole Fink
Professor of History
The Ohio State University
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