Dialogue and dissent. The SPD-SED paper of 1987

The fundamental discussions between the SPD and SED, which took place in the mid-1980s and resulted in the joint dialogue paper 'The Conflict of Ideologies and Common Security' in 1987, were not only an extremely exciting and interesting undertaking for the politicians and academics involved, but were also received with great interest by the people of the Federal Republic and the GDR. Many citizens in the GDR in particular had high hopes for the dialogue paper. Although the paper sparked considerable political controversy in both the Federal Republic and the GDR after its publication and was also the subject of heated public debate, there are still very few comprehensive studies on it to this day. The book outlines the process of its creation and the development of the party dialogue, and explains and analyses the central provisions of this historical document. It also presents and critically examines the controversies surrounding the dialogue paper in the Federal Republic of Germany, the GDR, the USA and the USSR.