Shaping German Foreign Policy

Introduction : historical memory in German foreign policy -- has Germany crossed the Rubicon? : the case of NATO and Kosovo -- A trajectory of change? : the case of Afghanistan -- Defender of peace and of the United Nations: the case of Iraq -- Germany's future in Europe and beyond.

This book examines the extent to which German foreign policy has changed since unification, and analyzes the fundamental reasons behind this change. The book has three main aims. The essays develop theories of foreign policy to predict and explain Germany's foreign policy behavior. They test competing predictions about German foreign policy behavior since unification in several issue areas. They also assess the much-debated question as to whether post-unification Germany's foreign policy is marked by continuity or change.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the West German government refused to exchange ambassadors with Israel. It feared Arab governments might retaliate against such an acknowledgement of their political foe by recognizing Communist East Germany-West Germany's own nemesis-as an independent state, and in doing so confirm Germany's division. Even though the goal of national unification was far more important to German policymakers than full reconciliation with Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust, in 1965 the Bonn government eventually did agree to commence diplomatic relations with Jerusalem. This was due, the author argues, to grassroots intervention in high-level politics. Students, the media, trade unions, and others pushed for reconciliation with Israel rather than the pursuit of German unification. For the first time, this book provides an in-depth look at the role society played in shaping Germany's relations with Israel. Today, German society continues to reject anti-Semitism, but is increasingly prepared to criticize Israeli policies, especially in the Palestinian territories. The author argues that this trend sets the stage for a German foreign policy that will continue to support Israel, but is likely to do so more selectively than in the past.

Finally available in a single volume, the masterful study of Hitler's foreign policy and the true origins of the Second World War by the world's top specialist in history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Written over the course of many years and previously available only in two volumes, this complete and updated edition is now being published in a single affordable volume for the first time. ''the course of German foreign policy provides the obvious organizing principle for any account of the origins of World War II. This is not to assert that no other power or other factor bears any substantial share of the responsibility for the outbreak of that war or the developments leading up to it but rather to suggest that a complex question is perhaps best studied by examining its core. [] The years from the beginning of 1933 to the end of 1936 saw a diplomatic revolution in Europe. From a barely accepted equal on the European stage, Germany became the dominant power on the Continent. With the remilitarization of the Rhine and, the stalemate in the Spanish civil war, the forming of the Axis, and the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact, this phase was completed. The diplomatic initiative in the world belonged to Germany and its partners. Germany's determination for war became the central issue in world diplomacy.''

This work examines the extent to which German foreign policy and European policy has changed since German unification. Despite significant changes on specific issues, most notably on the deployment of military force outside of the NATO area, there is greater continuity than change in post-unification German policy.

The central aim of this book is to foster connections between scholarly discussions of German foreign policy and broader theoretical debates in International Relations and beyond. While there has been a lively discussion about ‘new German foreign policy’, this book argues that it has not engaged substantially with international and foreign policy theory, especially with respect to its more recent developments. Reviewing the recent literature on German foreign policy, this book posits that the most discussed works are still largely provided by the ‘Altmeister’ (Maull, Szabo, Bulmer and Paterson) who were already dominating the field a quarter of a century ago. While there is a general decline in the academic study of German foreign policy, the chapters in this edited volume show that a range of novel, theoretically sophisticated but often disconnected scholarship has appeared on the margins. This book contributes to this emerging work by providing conceptual interrogations, which question the existing research and provide theoretically-grounded alternatives; initiating critical discussions and evaluations of the nature of Germany’s actorness and the environment in which it operates and proposing applications of less familiar perspectives on German foreign policy. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of German Politics.

Despite an array of predictions that Germany's foreign policy would be unable to adapt easily to the postunification, post-Cold War environment, it has in fact remained effective, even as it evolves in response to myriad challenges. Scott Erb analyzes German policy, with an emphasis on the transitions from 1980 to the present. Erb argues that Germany's success in dealing with a rapidly changing world rests on principles of multilateralism and cooperative institution building developed during the Cold War. These principles are especially well suited now, he finds, as interdependence and turbulence bring traditional notions of sovereignty and self-interest into question. Germany, he concludes, offers a sound model of foreign policy in an age of globalization.

This volume analyses current German domestic and foreign policy debates of international relevance. By reflecting their contemporary historical background and discussing the logic behind the different positions in a dispute, the author considers issues such as whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear headscarves, fears about immigration, the predominance of either a single national culture or multicultural pluralism and the admissibility of multiple citizenship. This book also sheds new light on the debate over the boundaries of freedom of expression, which was triggered by the so-called Danish “Mohammad cartoons.” Aspects of German foreign policy are addressed, including the debate on the ratification of a European constitutional treaty and of the Treaty of Lisbon, German attempts to obtain a permanent seat on the Security Council, as well as the question of whether the deployment of the German army in Afghanistan contributed to the defense of Germany. This book is of interest to students and scholars of political sciences, as well as to journalists and practitioners interested in an analysis of current political debates in Germany.

This book's introduction to foreign policy analysis focuses on decision makers and decision making. Each chapter is organised around puzzles and questions to which undergraduates can relate. The book emphasizes the importance of individuals in foreign policy decision making, while also placing decision makers within their context.

In Uncertain Times considers how policymakers react to dramatic developments on the world stage. Few expected the Berlin Wall to come down in November 1989; no one anticipated the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001. American foreign policy had to adjust quickly to an international arena that was completely transformed. Melvyn P. Leffler and Jeffrey W. Legro have assembled an illustrious roster of officials from the George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations—Robert B. Zoellick, Paul Wolfowitz, Eric S. Edelman, Walter B. Slocombe, and Philip Zelikow. These policymakers describe how they went about making strategy for a world fraught with possibility and peril. They offer provocative reinterpretations of the economic strategy advanced by the George H. W. Bush administration, the bureaucratic clashes over policy toward the breakup of the USSR, the creation of the Defense Policy Guidance of 1992, the expansion of NATO, the writing of the National Security Strategy Statement of 2002, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. A group of eminent scholars address these same topics. Bruce Cumings, John Mueller, Mary Elise Sarotte, Odd Arne Westad, and William C. Wohlforth probe the unstated assumptions, the cultural values, and the psychological makeup of the policymakers. They examine whether opportunities were seized and whether threats were magnified and distorted. They assess whether academicians and independent experts would have done a better job than the policymakers did. Together, policymakers and scholars impel us to rethink how our world has changed and how policy can be improved in the future.