POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS 49
between the two Germanys was part of a number of growing cross-border
political entanglements. Both German states increasingly sought inter-
national recognition as well as political, economic, and cultural relation-
ships beyond their own borders, although it must be said that the GDR
made more of an eff ort with less success.^11 At the beginning of the 1970s,
for example, the FRG initiated diplomatic relations with neighboring
communist countries, such as Poland, Hungary, and Romania, as well as
China (1972), Finland (1973), and Cuba (1975). The number of interna-
tional political talks, meetings, and events also climbed, and sometimes
seemingly unpolitical major events such as the Olympic Games in Mu-
nich in 1972 became a space for political showmanship.^12
The 1970s brought an increase in these types of encounters not only
between East and West Germany, but also within the Cold War blocs and
between the northern and southern hemispheres. In turn, this intensifi ed
the cooperation between the major Western industrialized countries who
had come together to discuss current problems at venues such as the
initial G6 global economic summit in 1975. The cooperative eff orts within
the framework of the European Economic Community (EEC) also gained
momentum at the end of the 1970s, despite the fact that the fi rst half of the
1970s had been marked by what has often been referred to as “euroscle-
rosis.” As a result, the EEC expanded to the eastern, northern, and then
the southern countries of Europe, and this cross-border cooperation was
reinforced through the European Monetary System and the introduction
of European elections in 1979. Similarly, cross-border contacts among
the communist countries were also stepped up, even beyond the Soviet
Union (USSR). The GDR, for instance, initiated talks with China as well as
with the Western Eurocommunists who aimed at gaining independence
from Moscow’s leadership.^13 At the same time, China opened up to West-
ern markets beginning in 1979. Both democracies and socialist states
also sought to strengthen their contacts with developing countries.^14 The
GDR was particularly keen to court the socialist states in Africa and Latin
American, and then later the emerging countries in East Asia and major
oil producers. An eff ort was even made to set up a state visit with the
shah of Iran, who maintained friendly relations with the United States,
but the overthrow of the shah in 1979 got in the way.^15 Furthermore,
when the FRG cut its foreign aid to developing socialist countries such
as Nicaragua, the GDR noticeably increased its solidarity contributions
in return.^16 From the 1970s onward, moreover, the FRG’s Ostpolitik and
the “Westpolitik” of the GDR evolved within an international framework
that was undoubtedly shaped by Cold War alliances.^17 Not surprisingly,
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) played
a key role in these numerous cross-border talks. With the signing of the