Germany’s Foreign Policy after the End of the Cold War

Abstract

Germany is increasingly expected to behave like a “normal” international actor, that is, one who assumes international responsibility in accordance with its international stature and whose involvement in international affairs is not—or to a lesser degree than during the Cold War—circumscribed by its past. Those changes in the expectations in particular from its transatlantic and European partners have strained Germany’s international self-conception. So have changes in the domestic environment, where the constraints on German foreign policy decision-makers have grown stronger in recent years. As a result, the “civilian power” role, which shaped Germany’s foreign policy during the Cold War, has been increasingly called into question, and it is not yet clear whether it will be replaced by a new master role for the country in international affairs.

The Media Salience of Germany's Bilateral Relations to the United States, France and Britain

“…This can be ascribed to the heightened stature of Germany in international politics and the growing international demands on German foreign policy which in turn have widened the scope for domestic (party) political contestation over this policy. 60 The article suggests that the increased attention among the German public to Germany's bilateral relations is indicative of these more general trends in German foreign policy. It would be for further research to establish whether our findings also hold for Germany's bilateral relationships beyond its main international partners, including more conflictual relations such as those to Russia.…”

Incentives and constraints: a configurational account of European involvement in the anti-Daesh coalition

“…Of those that participated militarily, only the legislatures in Germany and Denmark have formal veto rights over military deployments (hence these two countries are uniquely covered by Path 1 instead of Path 2), and Germany limited its involvement to air support, arguably due to political and constitutional considerations, if the parliamentary debates in the Bundestag following upon the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan are taken as an indicator. Indeed, the German government's policy on the anti-Daesh coalition seems to reflect the country's traditional reluctance when it comes to military involvement and warfighting (Brummer and Oppermann, 2016). This contrasts with Denmark, where involvement in US-led military coalitions enjoys broad political support and has become part of the country's strategic culture (Jakobsen and Rynning, 2019).…”

Post-Cold War Russian-German Relations: The New Balance of Powers in Europe?

“…This project, which bypassed traditional transit countries, directly connected Russia and Germany. This agreement between the two major powers was causing great concern in many Eastern European countries, especially in Poland (Brummer and Oppermann, 2016).…”