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How did Konrad Adenauer’s “Chancellor Democracy” prioritize Western integration and domestic stability over national reunification, and to what extent did this strategy define the political culture of the early Federal Republic? This article examines the fourteen-year chancellorship of Konrad Adenauer, the founding father of the Federal Republic of Germany. It analyzes his controversial strategy of Westbindung (Western integration), arguing that Adenauer deliberately sacrificed the immediate possibility of German reunification in exchange for sovereignty, security, and economic recovery within the Western alliance. The article explores his patriarchal leadership style—termed “Chancellor Democracy”—which provided much-needed stability for a traumatized electorate but also stifled parliamentary debate…