Germany and peace enforcement: Participating in IFOR

Abstract

Six years after reunification, few observers would argue that Germany is anything but a contributor to international peace and stability. Building on the Cold War era traditions of the Federal Republic, the foreign policy of the newly unified Germany remains anchored in a commitment to multilateral security organisations. Moreover, many German leaders now argue that their country should no longer be unnaturally burdened by its history and that it should, as a consequence, assume a more appropriate range of international responsibilities.1 The advocacy of increased international responsibilities is very apparent in the role that Germany has sought to play within the international efforts to resolve the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.2 During those conflicts, German policy sought to demonstrate leadership within the international community while avoiding a direct ground-based military commitment to the United Nations peacekeeping efforts. As the first major European crisis following reunification unfolded, Bonn at first attempted to lead from the front. In the summer of 1991, Germany called for the active participation of the European Community (then EC, now European Union or EU), the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (then CSCE, now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe or OSCE) and the Western European Union (WEU) to find a peaceful solution to the growing violence among the republics of the former Yugoslavia. It was the subsequent failure of the 1991 Hague Conference' that led Bonn to pressurize the European Union (EU) to recognize the independence of Croatia and Slovenia. International criticism that that action had exacerbated the situation in the former Yugoslavia and, moreover, the charge that it was 'throwing its weight around' within the EU, led the Federal Republic to alter its approach. During the subsequent four years, it adopted the role of a 'helpful fixer', operating behind the scenes in the pursuit of a negotiated peace settlement. To some degree, Bonn has been successful in that endeavour. In particular, its proposal to create the Contact Group in early 1994 mitigated the serious The views expressed are those of the authors.