Introduction: A Teutonic Shift?

Abstract

Germany’s foreign policy is shaped primarily by Germany’s power position on the international stage and by the state of its economy. Both have changed dramatically in the years since the Berlin Wall fell, and the world has seen several important ’shifts’ in Germany’s foreign policy. The more robust the economy, the more Germany’s power has been used to underwrite cooperation in Europe and in the world. But continued economic stagnation has led Germany’s leaders to shift away from that role and assert self-interest more blatantly, even to the point of defecting from international cooperation. Domestic politics, political culture, leadership, international institutions all contribute to German foreign policy behavior, but the principal factors at work are power and the state of the economy. This is the argument of this volume.

‘If Germany is in chains, Europe will be in rags.’

— Herbert Hoover, Fact-finding Report on Germany 1947