Ronald Eckford Mill Irving
Published: 2002
Total Pages: 256
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Konrad Adenauer was Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany during the crucially important postwar years 1949-63, often referred to as the 'Adenauer Era'. Adenauer was certainly a very influential figure in postwar German politics. In 1949 he became Chancellor of a still-occupied country, which lay in ruins after the collapse of Hitler's dictatorship. When his Chancellorship ended fourteen years later, the Federal Republic was a prosperous, powerful, sovereign, liberal democracy, firmly committed to the Western Alliance. As Ronald Irving shows, Adenauer contributed significantly to this huge metamorphosis. This is more than a personal biography: it is an assessment of the life and times of a significant politician and statesman. This new Profile focuses especially on Adenauer's controversial character. Did he unwittingly undermine the development of liberal democracy by his autocratic behaviour? Ronald Irving assesses Adenauer's leadership of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU), through which German conservatives of all classes, confessions and regions embraced liberal democracy for the first time. He analyses the Federal Republic's much-debated and controversial foreign policy in the 1950s and 1960s. Ronald Irving uses his wide knowledge of postwar European history and politics to tackle these complex questions. Ronald Irving is Reader in Politics and Contemporary European History at University of Edinburgh. He is the author of several books including The Christian Democratic Parties of Western Europe' (1979).