Ireland, West Germany and the New Europe, 1949-73 provides an authoritative analysis of the uncharted relations between the Republic of Ireland and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), and marks a break from the Anglophone-centred literature on post-war Ireland. The years after 1949 defined contemporary Europe, Germany and Ireland, and the ripple effect of ideas such as trade liberalisation and European integration on the state of Ireland were profound. FRG was America’s top pupil in spreading these ideas and moulding contemporary Ireland, and this study sheds light on Ireland’s current dilemmas in the age of Brexit and Trump. 

The book offers a departure from existing debates about the early history of Ireland’s rejuvenation in the 1950s and 1960s. It explains the essential role of the FRG in Ireland’s shift to become an international trading state, and of how Ireland fitted into the American-inspired refashioning of Western Europe around the burgeoning FRG. The investigation of German investment in Ireland strongly queries the conventional wisdom that Seán Lemass and T. K. Whitaker initiated Ireland’s embrace of modernisation. 

The volume clarifies FRG’s critical perspectives on Ireland’s stance on the Cold War, and illuminates how economic modernisation and international reorientation were resisted by some sections of Irish society in the 1960s. 

This original study draws on records from Ireland, FRG, EU institutions and Britain. The work will appeal to students, scholars and policymakers and will be useful for those in the area of European studies, history, politics and international relations.