The impact of United States foreign policy on the reconstruction of the West German electrical manufacturing and ship construction industries, 1945--1955.

摘要

This dissertation explores the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the German shipbuilding and electrical engineering industries after the Second World War. Based on primary document research in the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, and the U.S., this dissertation grapples with the question of continuity and change within these industries, compares the experiences of these industries, and examines the influence of American foreign aid on rebuilding industrial sectors. This study explores the impact of American global, regional, and country-level policies after 1945 on the physical and institutional reconstruction in the German shipbuilding and electrical manufacturing industries. It analyzes the structure, management, technology, and relative destruction of these industries as they emerged from the Second World War. Then it traces the development of these industries between the years 1945 and 1955, within the constantly shifting context of occupation, division, dismantling, and the emerging Cold War. Finally, this work examines how these industries influenced, and were influenced by the conditions of the emerging U.S.-led world economic system.; This dissertation demonstrates that U.S. foreign policy proved dynamic in shifting from reorientation to restoration of West German industries after 1945. American policies worked within established institutional configurations in German industry, thereby strengthening continuities in the German shipbuilding and electrical industries. Ownership, managerial organization, profiles of production, patterns of technology use, relations to export markets, and inter-firm relations reemerged along preexisting lines. The global demands of U.S. foreign economic and military policy, inter-Allied diplomacy, and the deepening Cold War, however, altered global market conditions and compelled adaptation on the part of these German industries. By examining not just the options and actions of U.S. policy makers, but also the perceptions, strategic choices, and actions of historical actors within German industry, this dissertation sheds light on indigenous responses to American Cold War policies. By focussing on policy formulation and implementation within two industrial sectors, it deepens our understanding of U.S. foreign policy formulation, inter-allied tensions over German re-industrialization, and German concerns over U.S. policies and the Cold War world.