During the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany was buffeted by the actions and decisions of the superpowers, forced to redefine itself anew with each development in global relations. David F. Patton develops the links between Cold War international pressures and German domestic coalitions. The book examines a politics in uncertain times, focusing on three major shifts in Cold War relations which disrupted politics-as-usual in the Federal Republic: rearmament, a fierce domestic showdown over détente, and unification policy. Patton's examination of the remarkable parallels of these three periods reveals how the Federal Republic has changed, yet stayed the same, in the postwar era.