This book is an exploration of the economic history of the German Democratic Republic with an emphasis upon its confrontation by and contribution towards economic and military competition on the world stage. Beginning with an analysis of the Soviet bloc as a statecapitalist formation the GDRs economic history is charted with detailed examinations of the challenges to Sovietstyle autarky that were posed by the globalising world market as well as of GDR policymakers attempts to use Western imports and credits as a whip to spur growth. The books central section consists of an exploration of the ambivalent attitudes of East German policymakers and industrialists towards their West German counterparts in the 1980s as the whip was transformed into an evertightening noose of debt.