The Germans and Their Neighbors (review)

196 SAIS Review WINTER-SPRING 1994 human rights within American foreign policy, proposals for this had already been submitted as a direct result of the Pinochet coup. Sigmund's description of the Reagan Administration's policy toward Chile in his eatly years and his subsequent change of policy reveals the final stages of this evolution. At die onsetofhis presidency, Reagan was resolved to reverse the emphasis Carter had placed on human rights accepting the argument ofJeane Kirkpatrick that by pressuring authoritarian regimes that were friendly to the United States over human rights violations was a threat to U.S. security and economic interests. Despite his reluctance to exert pressure on the Pinochet regime during the first few years of his presidency, Reagan radically shifted his policy by 1985, eventually demanding that Pinochet open the Chilean political system. Sigmund recounts this shift and provides a diorough assessmentofthe motivations for it not the least ofwhich was public opinion. He develops die idea that by 1985 diere was consensus from the left to the right that the United States needed to press for a political opening in Chile. Sigmund reveals that this bi-partisan support fot democracy in Chile reflected a larger consensus among policy makers for institutionalizing the promotion ofdemocracy as an end in itself, and not merely a means to an end. Finally, Sigmund describes Chile's successful transition to democracy in 1990. He comments upon the improved relations between Chile and the United States and portends good relations between the two countries in the future. Throughout the book, Sigmund analyzes die dramatic events that have occurred in Chile since 1960 with a unique combination of perspicacity and sensitivity. He immediately alerts the reader ofhis profound respect for the Chilean people and their society when he describes in his preface how he became interested in Chile: "I fell in love with Chile from the time of my first visit nearly thirty years ago. It seemed a humane, literate, democratic society that took politics seriously as a way to deal with common problems. For a professor ofpolitical philosophy, the Chilean concern with the role of ideas in politics was particularly appealing." This respect for the Chilean people combined with Sigmund's desire to illustrate the essential role ofdie Chilean people in affecting change in Chile, which provide the underpinnings ofhis analysis, distinguish Sigmund's book from other similar books on Chile and provide the reader with a provocative and unique analysis of modern Chilean history. The Germans and Their Neighbors. Edited by Dirk Verheyen and Christian Soe. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993. 403 pp. $59.95/Hatdcover. Reviewed by Scott Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter received his BA from Hope College and L· an MA candxlate at SAIS. "Germany's unity, which is presendy starting to take shape, will tum [its people] into a power much more terrifying than today's Germany; therefore, I do not believe that it is in our interest to call for unity, let alone to press for it." BOOK REVIEWS 197 Spoken not in 1990 on die eve of German reunification but in the years preceding die foundation ofthe Gemían state in 1871 , these words ofFrench Foreign Ministet Jules Bastide capture the perennial concern of many Europeans regarding German power. Twice during the twentiedi century, evidence diat Bastide's concerns were well warranted was provided at moments when the delicate balance of power in Europe was upset with tragic consequence, by Gemían exploration of its so-called Sonderweg (special path). Following the destruction of Hider's Third Reich, all of this was to have changed. The bifurcation ofGermany into East and West was to solve the "German Problem," seen by the Americans as the "European Problem," once and for all. The West (largely, die United States, France and Great Britain) imposed democracy and a liberal economy on the Federal Republic and insisted it be bound to the West through its membership in institutions such as die European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Community (EC), and finally, the North Adantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Stalin sovietized the East and by die time die Federal Republic had entered NATO, the Gemían Democratic Republic (GDR) looked to be...