Warsaw Pact Intervention in the Third World by Philip E. Muehlenbeck;Natalia Telepneva;

Warsaw Pact Intervention in the Third World by Philip E. Muehlenbeck;Natalia Telepneva;

Author:Philip E. Muehlenbeck;Natalia Telepneva;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786724175
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK


Conclusion

Tanzania and the GDR eventually opened formal diplomatic relations on 21 December 1972. The Tanzanian Government's change of heart owed nothing to the GDR's own policies in Africa, however. Rather, the agreement took place amid a slew of recognitions of the East German state across the Third World, coming days after Bonn and East Berlin signed the ‘Basic Treaty’, under which the two German states recognized each other's sovereignty.95 This development essentially normalized the coexistence of the GDR and FRG in Dar es Salaam, although the propaganda wars continued unabated. West German representatives monitored in depth the stream of attacks on Bonn in GDR news bulletins, which repeatedly returned to the FRG's policy towards South Africa.96

The GDR's propaganda tactics did far more damage than good in its mission to gain full recognition in Dar es Salaam. The attacks on the FRG's support – exaggerated or otherwise – for Portugal and South Africa were well received by the more radical elements of the press and political elite, but had little effect on the government itself. Cruder propaganda efforts like the Braunbuch were met with disdain, and created precedents which meant that when even more disreputable ‘black literature’ surfaced in the city, East Germany was assumed to be a prime suspect. The East German experience in Zanzibar, where its ill-considered development projects and pushy approach contributed to the island's government preferring Chinese aid, also discouraged Tanzania's support for the GDR's cause.97 East Germany's pursuit of influential contacts amongst the overlapping networks of the Tanzanian media and political establishment largely backfired.

Mostly, however, the GDR's entanglement in Tanzanian affairs reveals how its own policies were contingent on shifting political dynamics in the country. While the GDR claimed some support from the Soviet Union in its attempt to gain recognition in Tanzania, its near subordination of all other policy to its unique cause led it to become utterly transfixed on its competition with Bonn. Marginalized in terms of diplomatic relations with the Nyerere regime, the GDR turned to media networks as a means of currying favour in Tanzania. But this entwined the East German struggle for recognition with the labyrinthine world of Tanzanian politics and the government's attempts to marshal the postcolonial public sphere. Here, in the entrails of Odd Arne Westad's anecdotal Cold War elephant, the intersection of local and global political dynamics demonstrated the relative weakness of the GDR on the world stage. Starved of opportunities to develop a meaningful, constructive relationship with the Tanzanian Government, the GDR became a scavenger state, seeking to feed off every opportunity that arose to advance its cause, in a sometimes reckless manner.



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