Leadership in an interdependent world : the statesmanship of Adenauer, De Gaulle, Thatcher, Reagan, and Gorbachev

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Leadership in an interdependent world : the statesmanship of Adenauer, De Gaulle, Thatcher, Reagan, and Gorbachev

Ghiţa Ionescu

Longman, 1991

  • : pbk

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780582053021

Description

This book is an inquiry into modern statesmanship or, as the title indicates, into statesmanship in the age of interdependence. In form, it consists of an examination of the statesmanship of five people, namely Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, with special reference to the way in which they adapted themselves to the new policies of interdependence. These five personalities deserve to be called statesmen because they fulfilled the conditions which distinguish them from mere politicians - they have all stayed in power for a long time - an average of a decade for the first four, while in his first five years Gorbachev has moved at breath-taking speed; during their period in government they have all frequently proved their courage and decisiveness, as well as the consistency of their political aims; and because of their achievements they have succeeded in leaving a mark on the history of their respective states, as well as on world history, commensurate with the importance of their states during the period of some 45 years (1944-1990) of "cold war" in which they were active. What they also had in common, and what makes the point of this enquiry is that they all had to exert their statesmanship in the new circumstances of interdependence - one of the concepts to be explained in this introduction - and to adapt their political cognition - another such concept - to the changed conditions of the sovereignty of the state, and in general to the new processes of policy-making. By comparing the different performances of the five, it is easier to extrapolate the similarities between them and to answer such overall questions as: how successfully did each one adjust his or her statesmanship to the new techniques, mentalities and perspectives? Or, conversely, how much were they simply acting in conformity with the laws of interdependence without knowing it, while publicly arguing they were only fighting for the sovereignty of their respective states? This inquiry is directed at the examination, with the help of these historical cases, of the more general problem of the changes imposed by interdependence on the processes of policy-making and therefore on the very concepts of state, statesman and statesmanship. By the 20th century, interdependence was already visibly conditioning the state and restricting sovereignty in the industrialized society, and through it in the world as a whole. By the middle of the century the winds of the information revolution were blowing through the formally state-centred economic and political structures. Obviously what was required was an adjustment of political cognition to the new conditions of interdependence the two concepts to the explanation of which we now turn.

Table of Contents

  • The concept of interdependence
  • the mutations of the 1970s
  • the creation of the European Community
  • Konrad Adenauer - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • Adenauer's policies of interdependence, conclusions
  • Charles de Gaulle - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • de Gaulle's policies of interdependence
  • La France, the world and Europe
  • conclusions
  • Margaret Thatcher - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • Mrs Thatcher's policies of interdependence
  • conclusions - Mrs Thatcher a la recherche du temps perdu
  • Ronald Reagan - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • Reagan's policies of interdependence
  • conclusions
  • Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of interdependence
  • in guise of conclusions
  • conclusions
  • the end of the Cold War
  • the categories of sovereignty
  • the policies of integration
  • notes and references.
Volume

ISBN 9780582078529

Description

This volume provides interpretation of this fascinating era of "Cold War" politics. The author aims to demonstrate how, in a transnational technological society, states and governments have to share power, and examines how national approaches to policy-making processes have been actively replaced by interdependent approaches. This text takes five examples of post-World War II sovereign statesmanship - Adenauer, de Gaulle, Thatcher, Reagan and Gorbachev - and provides a profile of each prominent personality and analyzes their respective "politics of interdependence". It also deals with the major changes that have occurred during this key period of world history - from the division of post-war Germany to its recent reunification; from "Socialism in one bloc" to Gorbachev's moves towards the interdependent world, and much more.

Table of Contents

  • The concept of interdependence
  • the mutations of the 1970s
  • the creation of the European Community
  • Konrad Adenauer - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • Adenauer's policies of interdependence, conclusions
  • Charles de Gaulle - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • de Gaulle's policies of interdependence
  • La France, the world and Europe
  • conclusions
  • Margaret Thatcher - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • Mrs Thatcher's policies of interdependence
  • conclusions - Mrs Thatcher a la recherche du temps perdu
  • Ronald Reagan - personal circumstances and historical antecedents
  • Reagan's policies of interdependence
  • conclusions
  • Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of interdependence
  • in guise of conclusions
  • conclusions
  • the end of the Cold War
  • the categories of sovereignty
  • the policies of integration
  • notes and references.

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