German Foreign Policy Research Articles

Breaking with convention? Zeitenwende and the traditional pillars of German foreign policy

Abstract On 27 February 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed the Bundestag and announced a watershed moment (Zeitenwende) for Germany's conduct of foreign affairs. Against the backdrop of the historical pillars of German foreign policy, this article reviews the core implications of the Zeitenwende doctrine. It analyses how the new policy continued or transformed traditional notions underpinning Germany's external relations: Westbindung (integration into the West) and European integration, multilateralism, the pursuit of a rules-based international order and NATO membership, hesitant leadership, Ostpolitik and Wandel durch Handel (transformation through trade), as well as a foreign policy not relying on military means. It argues that Zeitenwende represented a break with some traditional notions, such as Ostpolitik and Wandel durch Handel, and to some extent the non-military foreign policy. However, Zeitenwende also reconfirmed other traditions: Westbindung, a commitment to multilateralism and the rules-based order, as well as the reluctance to assert German leadership. With Zeitenwende, Germany remained firmly committed to the EU and NATO as the country acknowledged that it must do more for its own, and for Europe's, security. Zeitenwende represented Germany's coming to terms with, and final acceptance of, the realities of the post-Cold War European order.

Foreign Policy Aspects in Attitudes of Germany Parliamentary Parties during Period of A. Merkel’s Chancellorship (2005—2021)

The main directions in the foreign policy agendas of the leading parties in Germany during the period of A. Merkel’s chancellorship are considered. The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the strategic program settings of the German parliamentary parties, which will allow a better understanding of what the country’s future foreign policy may be. It is emphasized that the party system of Germany is quite stable: only three parties have joined the parliamentary parties of the first convocation — the CDU / CSU, the FDP and the SDPG — at the present stage: the “Union 90 / Greens”, “Left” and since 2017 — “Alternative for Germany”. Particular attention is paid to the study of the election and fundamental programs of the parliamentary parties of Germany, as they reflect the party’s “worldview”, views on the place and role of the country in the world, the ultimate or most important goals to which the party should move, as well as the means and methods for achieving the set goals. Based on the analysis of these documents, it is concluded that there is a certain consensus among parliamentary parties on key issues related to the country’s foreign policy. Demands for a revision of the chosen course are heard only from right and left populists, who do not have a significant impact on German foreign policy.

Germany’s Colonial Policy in Contemporary German Social and Political Discourse

The intensification of the discussion on the German colonial past at the present stage combines the experience of historical research on this topic with the domestic and foreign policy objectives of Germany’s leadership. The purpose of this article is to examine the process of rethinking the colonial past in the Federal Republic of Germany as a part of ideological support for the FRG’s foreign policy on the African direction. The article examines how the debate over Germany’s colonial past has evolved in recent years, and how the intensification of the debate affects the government’s policy towards African countries. The conclusion is that Berlin’s address to this topic so far rarely goes beyond academic and socio-political debate, while the tangible steps of the government remain mostly at the level of declarative intentions. While expressing willingness to admit responsibility for the destruction wrought, the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany seek to maintain control over its “monetization,” as they fear to get a flow of bills with potentially unlimited sums. Most initiatives are in the first stages of implementation and far from meeting the requests of African states. Germany’s colonial history, marked by both crimes against the local population and the infrastructure development of its controlled territories, is a potential resource for engagement with African countries. The importance of Africa for German foreign policy as expected will increase in the future due to economic, demographic and geopolitical factors.

Singing in Dark Times: Report from Berlin

Singing in Dark Times: Report from Berlin

Current Challenges for German Business in the Russian Market

The reaction of leading German companies in the Russian market after the start of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine is considered. Companies interested in resolving the situation as soon as possible decided whether to leave the Russian market or not. The author analyzed the decisions of firms in the general context of winding down German business activities after 2014. After the acute phase of the pandemic ended, trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Germany showed a tendency to recover. However, since February 24, 2022, German companies with a small number of exceptions have generally supported anti-Russian sanctions. The conceptual typology of firms’ decisions, i.e., exit, activity compression, stabilization, and continuation of work in a difficult environment, is explored. It is concluded that the long-term trajectory of the real actions of German companies has fundamentally changed. The analysis made it possible to establish that the foundation of pragmatic market relations towards Russia is being eroded in the German foreign economic policy. This explains why German companies declare their willingness to pay. If during the annexation of Crimea to Russia groups of lobbyists for the interests of the German economy fought to maintain contacts, now such efforts are coming to naught.

Deutsche Kulturpropaganda und deutsche Auslandsschulen. Von der Kaiserzeit bis in den Nationalsozialismus

During the German Emperor Period—aside of the few state-financed foreign “propaganda” schools—German private schools in external countries were put under the influence of German foreign cultural policy. The focusing on political consideration increased afterWWIas result of the treaty ofVersailles.As part of the heavily discussed foreign policy the mobilization of these schools in foreign countries for the use for propaganda seems restricted until the National Socialists within their aggressive policy changed and made use of these schools in foreign countries for their foreign cultural policy. For a short time, this was realized by the National Socialist Teachers League creating inside a Foreign School District. To study the result of their activity in the archives only few documents have survived for research explaining the work and its ideology, stressing the teachers engaged with their role of a cultural ambassador of the Nazi movement.

Introduction

With Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the new coalition government’s resulting reorientation of German foreign and security policy—an epochal shift that jettisoned 30, even 50 years of policy the world immediately changed. The consequences and spillover effects of this paradigm shift or Zeitenwende will take years to become truly apparent and will rightfully seize the attention of academics, pundits, and policy analysts. Nevertheless, we should also not neglect other events from the recent past, namely, the most important election in the world in 2021. The September election for the German Bundestag was the most eventful, surprising, and momentous in that country for almost two decades, with an outcome that has already greatly affected Germany, Europe, and the world. It was also a novel election and outcome in several ways: it was the first election since 1953 without an incumbent chancellor running for re-election, and it resulted in the first three-party coalition government in over half a century.

In the Shadow of the Golden Calf.

Abstract The article offers the first comprehensive account of relations between Germany and Switzerland in the years 1919 to 1931 based on archival sources from both countries. Emphasising the interaction between finance and diplomacy, it provides new insights into the role played by the Swiss offshore centre for the German Reich after the First World War. During the inflationist period of 1919‒1923, as well as in the crisis of 1929‒1931, Switzerland, like the Netherlands, welcomed a huge amount of wealth from Germany while at the same time becoming an important creditor of the Reich. These developments had a significant impact on German internal and foreign policies at the time. Nevertheless, the article article argues that, despite the intensity of financial flows, Switzerland pursued a diplomatic course that was more plurilateral than the Netherlands. Even during the second part of the 1920s, when Swiss capital was placed on the German market in massive dimensions, there was no German orientation in Swiss foreign policy similar to what had happened in the years before the First World War. Switzerland’s foreign relations became more neutral during the 1920s. This article consequently proposes a nuanced perspective on the role of the small European countries in German foreign policy, highlighting the need to differentiate between them in spite of their common features and to consider, in a non-deterministic way, the interaction between finance and diplomacy.

Latin America in the global exchange of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden (1919-1930)

In 1912, Karl Lingner created the German Hygiene Museum Dresden profiting from the Dresden International Hygiene Exhibition 1911. Lingner aimed to build a permanent building for the museum, but due to the Great War and post-war economic crisis in Germany, the permanent building was not opened until 1930. In the Weimar Republic, the museum circulated internationally through traveling exhibitions and the sale and donation of collections and exhibits. This circulation comprised a global exchange promoting health education that included Latin America. In keeping with German foreign cultural policy of the period, the German Hygiene Museum played an active role in the transatlantic cultural relations and the German-Latin American exchange, functioning as "a cultural propaganda institute". In this article, we explore the transnational circulation of objects and collections between Dresden and Latin America which was also associated with international efforts to promote public health. Keywords: Public Health; Health Education; Cultural Propaganda; German-Latin American Relations; Transnational and Global History.

German Foreign Policy During the First Gulf Crisis: Overcoming a Taboo on Being a Military Power on World Stage

When Iraq attacked Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the international respond was immediate and enormous. In this international context, Germany could not stand irresponsive although its agenda was heavily preoccupied by the ongoing reunification negotiations. Additionally, another challenge for Germany in participating in such an international coalition was its post-World War II settlement which constrained Germany internally and externally from being a military power on world stage. Within this framework, this paper analyses German foreign policy during the First Gulf Crisis when 1990s made a fundamental reassessment about the scope and means of German foreign and security policy a necessity. This paper starts with a brief historical background of the international context and the Gulf War. Then, the paper focuses on the analysis of German foreign policy during the crisis in three periods. In doing so, this study mostly relies on secondary sources in its analysis by reviewing the relevant literature. In conclusion, the paper argues that, though it was comparatively limited, Germany’s participation in the international coalition responding the crisis is not a simple foreign policy choice but a strategic decision about reunified Germany’s role in the newly emerging international system, which will have greater implications as it substantially questioned a taboo on being an active international power including military means in world politics.

THE CONFLICT IN SYRIA IN THE CONTEXT OF GERMAN DIGITAL PUBLICATIONS

Press coverage of military conflicts is aimed at directly informing about combat and conflict actions: wars, religious and ethnic conflicts, special operations. However, the military conflict affects all spheres of society, including the media, changing the media discourse. Therefore, a significant role is played by the way in which the media present the problem of the conflict. The military and politicians use the media to spread the ideas that may be beneficial to them. The media are becoming not just a means of information and communication, but become full-fledged mechanisms and instruments of politics. It is especially necessary to pay attention to this in the conditions of a military conflict, because most of the media are owned by the political and economic elite. The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic was one of the main directions in German foreign policy. German diplomacy highly appreciates its contribution to the organization of the destruction of chemical weapons, financial assistance to the affected state. Today, Germany is the organizer of conferences and negotiations on the topic of the war in Syria on a permanent basis. The purpose of this work is to determine the semantic and emotional content of the agenda of German digital publications in the context of the military conflict in Syria. The study made it possible to identify key topics, socio-economic and political problems around the conflict in Syria, which through the media had a significant impact on the public agenda in Germany.

Not at the Mercy of No Protection

UN-mandated zones of protection seem like a relic of the 1990s, discredited by the Srebrenica genocide. The past decade of war in Syria and elsewhere has shown that other means of intervention have led to disastrous outcomes as well. However, a look at the recent history of zones of protection shows that success is possible. German foreign policy has long been committed to the rhetoric of preventing mass atrocities; its forthcoming national security strategy will be the place to put its institu-tional muscle where its political mouth has been for a long time.

Германия и Евросоюз: движущая сила или риск гегемонии?

The German position has played a central role in the European integration process from the earliest stages – both in the sense of strengthening and deepening integration and, especially after the adoption of the single currency, in that of imposing a particularly rigid economic and financial paradigm, while being accused by some member states of pursuing a hegemonic design that could even lead to a serious crisis in the Union. A heated debate has developed on this interpretation, not lacking in political polemics, which calls for a more in-depth assessment of the determinants of Bonn’s and then Berlin’s European policy, of the relationship between the choices considering integration and general lines of the German foreign policy as they develop. In addition, the theme of Reunification and, in parallel, of national identity, that have decisively conditioned the life of post‑1945 Germany, is crucial. In particular, it is interesting to note how Bonn made Western anchorage, both in the transatlantic and EU spheres, some of the cornerstones of its system, while at the same time, skilfully exploiting these choices to regain a place on the international scene. With reunification of 1990, Germany regained full sovereignty and tenaciously worked to assert its role as the continent’s Zentralmacht (central power) – a role that has been characteristic of the Germanic world since the Holy Roman Empire. This determination, albeit in different tones and colours, has seen substantial continuity between the CDU/CSU, the Social Democrats and Greens, and then with the “Gro.e Koalitionen” led by Angela Merkel. “Extraordinary responsibility”, “pivot”, “engine”, “vanguard”, “centre of gravity” are the different definitions that chancellors and foreign ministers have used in the last 30 years to define Berlin’s role within the European Union. Different expressions, but always intended to emphasise a special position and declined in such a way as to be useful to Germany’s “Vitalinteressen”, whether it was a question of the enlargement of the Union, its legal structure, the principle of subsidiarity or the creation of monetary union. It resulted, though not without contradictions, in a shift from the idea of “europaisches Deutschland” (European Germany) to that of “europaisches Deutschland in einem deutschen Europa” (European Germany in a German Europe). This contribution is devoted to the historical and political dynamics of this development.

Zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit: eine Einordnung der europapolitischen Grundsatzrede des deutschen Bundeskanzlers

On 29 August 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a long-awaited speech at Charles University in Prague that provides an important point of reference for the future European policy course of the incumbent coalition government after 16 years of Angela Merkel - and the yardstick by which it will have to be measured. Against the background of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the speech was also an attempt to spell out the “Zeitenwende” - the historic turning point for German foreign policy - in more detail and to translate it to the European level. At the same time, Scholz aimed to address recent criticism by its European partners over Germany’s support to Ukraine and make the case for European unity - yet, reservations remain.

On the Periodisation of the German Involvement in the Settlement of Armed Conflicts in the Post-Soviet Space

Currently, Germany is demonstrating its ambition to establish itself as a full-fledged global player. German strategic intrusion into the post-Soviet space in the form of participation in the settlement of armed conflicts is a factor contributing to the fulfilment of this ambition. The article proposes a periodisation for this aspect of German foreign policy. Both the evolution of tactics for using political and diplomatic tools in a given territory and the expansion of the composition of regional players are demonstrated for each period. The author focuses on the evolution of the German approach to the resolution of armed conflicts in the region (Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-South Ossetian, Transnistrian, and in the east of Ukraine). The German approach to the regulation of armed conflicts in the region has had two components. The first component is federalization as a way to eliminate local contradictions: Germany provided support to the central authorities of the former Soviet republic, often not taking into account the interests of the separatist party. The second component is German attempts to ensure that the parties to the conflict sign and implement the Association Agreement with the EU. This dramatically complicated the settlement process, creating a high probability of its degradation and leading, sometimes, to the resumption of discontinued armed clashes. The paper pays close attention to the German position on the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Atlantic and Russian vectorsof German foreign policy: from V. Brandt to O. Scholz

Atlantic and Russian vectorsof German foreign policy: from V. Brandt to O. Scholz

БЛИЖНЕВОСТОЧНЫЙ ВЕКТОР ВНЕШНЕЙ ПОЛИТИКИ ФРГ 2010-2022 ГГ

The article examines the development of German foreign policy in the Middle East. Among the reasons for its intensification in this region, the events of the «Arab Spring» stand out, which changed the political landscape of the Middle East and created the prerequisites for a possible violation of the territorial integrity of some countries in this region. This, in turn, led to a large-scale migrant crisis in the EU in 2015-2016, the consequences of which affected Germany to the greatest extent. It is noted that the most striking example of more active German diplomacy in the Middle East was an agreement with Turkey to finance its efforts to create camps for Syrian refugees. The continuity of Germany’s foreign policy is shown: with regard to Iran, Germany consistently advocates a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the so-called «nuclear deal»); with regard to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Berlin has been advocating for the security of Israel and the peaceful settlement of the conflict for decades. It is emphasized that the share of the Middle East module in the foreign policy of Germany is constantly growing and that Germany is becoming one of the influential players in the region. The contacts of official Berlin with the monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula are considered. The conclusion is made about the multi-vector foreign policy of Germany in the Middle East.

Внешняя политика Германии в период адаптации к реалиям постбиполярного мира

The transition from a bipolar to a post-bipolar system of international relations and the reunification of the FRG and the GDR in 1990 marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of Germany. The article examines the period of transformation and adaptation of the foreign policy of reunited Germany to the realities of the post-bipolar world order. The purpose of this study is to analyze the main directions of German foreign policy during the chancellorship of Helmut Kohl. At that time it was important for the FRG to strengthen stability and develop democracy in the territories of neighboring eastern countries. The position of the FRG in German-American relations had also changed. Reunited Germany became a strategically important partner of the United States in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and one of the central countries to initiate NATO expansion into Eastern Europe. Bilateral relations between Germany and Russia during the period under review developed in a positive way, since after the collapse of the USSR and the reunification of Germany both countries were in search of new foreign policy benchmarks. Providing a detailed description of the actions of the first government of reunited Germany in adapting the country to the new external conditions, the author concludes that a new geopolitical situation was formed in Europe after the reunification of the FRG and the GDR.

The Rising Janus Germania: Innovations in German Foreign and Security Policy, EU Policy and Its National Ideas

Germany acquired a Leitbild “Janus Germania” in which the theses of both civilian power and normal great power fuse and are transformed into a thesis of “peace restoration power with power orientation”. Such a transformation is attributed to the “fluid five-party system”, and fragmentation increased. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) became concentrated towards the centre. This movement is reflected in the SPD’s stressing of Germany’s own national interests and the transfer to the CDU/CSU of the ideas of crisis prevention and comprehensive security. Segmentation decreased, and the grand coalition normalised.

German Foreign Policy in the Face of Current Challenges

The article analyzes the features of German foreign policy on the eve of the September (2021) elections to the Bundestag and the gradual overcoming of the crisis consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The priorities of the foreign policy based on the value approach remain the European and transatlantic vectors, as well as relations with the main system-forming international organizations. The postulates of value are prompting Berlin to increasingly intensify criticism of Russia and China, incl. due to the signifi cantly increased, from his point of view, threats in relation to Germany and other states of the collective West. Germany still relies on France in European politics. Their tandem continues to determine the political and economic processes in the European Union, as well as to infl uence the formation of the EU mechanisms for overcoming the coronavirus crisis. Despite the rapid restoration of constructive relations with the new American administration, a number of controversial issues remain in bilateral relations, including defense spending and the economy. In recent years, Germany has been able to strengthen its positions in Europe and the world and expects to strengthen its role as a global actor, especially in international organizations. Nevertheless, the German expert community critically refers to its current foreign policy status quo. The author explores the latest trends in German foreign policy, gives an assessment of its development after elections to the Bundestag, pays special attention to the prospects for relations with the Russian Federation.