Germany's uncertain power

About this book

The foreign policy of the Berlin Republic has begun to depart from its previous trajectory as a "civilian power", but to what extent and how it has changed is hotly debated. Is Germany in danger of becoming a problem for European stability? If so, how and why? This volume, prepared by a team of leading German and international experts, analyzes the foreign policy record of the Red-Green coalition government of Chancellor Gerhard Schṟder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to assess the extent of foreign policy continuity and the scope and direction of change. Using a common framework of analysis, the authors conclude that Germany has once more become an "uncertain power". Since about the mid-1990s, German power and influence in European and international relations have been diminishing, rather than growing - in part, because German foreign policy has become uncertain of its own purpose.