These studies of the history of international politics in the 19th and 20th centuries offer an interpretation of the relationship between statesmanship and state systems by a leading German historian. The book is divided chronologically to cover the European order between the unification of Germany and World War I, the revolution in international order before and during World War II and the Federal Republic of Germany and its policies towards the West and the East in the 1960s. It explores the possibilities and dangers inherent in the decisions and conduct of statesmen which crucially affect the life of states and nations as well as of societies and individuals.

First Published in 1989. Tackling the problem of Germany's role in the history of world politics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is one of the most interesting tasks of historiography. Furthermore, the relationship between Britain and Germany is of central significance in understanding this role.

The continuity issue has been a theme in German historiography for half a century. Historians have examined the foreign policy of Wilhelmine and Nazi Germany that led to two world wars. Dr. William Young examines the continuity of German Foreign Office influence in the formulation of foreign policy under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck (1862-1890), Kaiser William II (1888-1918), the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), and Adolf Hitler (1933-1945). He stresses the role and influence of strong German leaders in the making of policy and the conduct of foreign relations. German Diplomatic Relations 1871-1945 will be of value to individuals interested in the history of Germany, Modern Europe, and International Relations.

Is the West in Decline? is a collection of ten essays by prominent scholars of international relations and current history, many of them associated with the European Studies program of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The essays explore the question of decline from several perspectives: theoretical, historical, counterfactual, and contemporary. Thomas Row’s essay uses alternative history to show how an unfallen Habsburg Empire might have evolved into a state system resembling the European Union. Benjamin Rowland’s essay on Oswald Spengler considers how the German historian’s theory of decline could be applied to the West today. Several of the essays are country studies. Not all conclude that countries or state systems are in decline, or that the condition, if present, is irreversible. Writing about Germany, Stephen Szabo notes that only fifteen years ago, this currently robust country could have been seen as a clear exemplar of decline. Dana Allin’s essay on the U.S. asks whether a course change, including retrenchment and overseas rebalancing, might reverse decline or eliminate it altogether. David Calleo’s essay, among other things, looks at America’s reserve currency status as a principal sustainer of American exceptionalism, and asks what might happen should the U.S. lose its “exorbitant privilege” as reserve currency provider to the international system.

On the day after the tragic terrorist attacks of 9/11, newspapers across Europe proclaimed, We Are All Americans in many different languages, crystallizing the solidarity that so many people around the world felt at that time. But in the years since, that beautiful friendship between Americans and Europeans evaporated, leaving in its place a growing resentment so deep that Americans traveled overseas with Canadian flags stitched to their backpacks while Europeans held candlelight vigils for the removal of President George W. Bush. Dell'Orto argues persuasively that the answer to the question of where do we go from here lies in whether non-Americans keep believing in the American dream. Only if that dream continues to be the root of America's power—as this book shows it has been since the United States first stepped onto the international stage—can America not go the way of all other superpowers in history: down and out. Through analysis of thousands of Western European media articles and government publications about the United States, this book, for the first time, shows what the essence of America is to non-Americans and why that matters to Americans in a very practical way—because it sets limits to what the nation can accomplish. Dell'Orto argues persuasively that Europe's United States is the revered concept America—the exceptional dream that the land of (plenty of) opportunity can really exist, that the experiment in democracy can really work for all those who choose to become Americans. This is a great U.S. asset, since it makes America uniquely powerful in Europe's eyes, infinitely mightier than the march of Marines and McDonald's alone would warrant. Herein lie the uniqueness and the urgency of this book. European public opinion shape's Europe's reaction at least as much as U.S. actions do.

This important addition to modern German studies treats the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich as a continuum, exploring its themes through the 1920s and 1930s without artificial breaks. John Hiden looks at key issues in political, social and economic history, and in international relations. He highlights Germany's potentially constructive role in Europe before Hitler; analyses the country's structural problems; considers the importance of personalities and personal responsibility in the period; and examines the legacy of the Third Reich to postwar Germany. Filled with energy and ideas, the book has an intellectual substance far beyond its relatively modest length.

The opening of various personal and party archives over the past few years has now made the entire Adenauer era accessible for historians. Using this material to re-examine existing conventional wisdom about the period, the text traces the roles of Adenauer and the CDU/CSU is shaping the Westbindung.