This book examines the extent to which German foreign policy has changed since unification, and analyzes the fundamental reasons behind this change. The book has three main aims. The essays develop theories of foreign policy to predict and explain Germany's foreign policy behavior. They test competing predictions about German foreign policy behavior since unification in several issue areas. They also assess the much-debated question as to whether post-unification Germany's foreign policy is marked by continuity or change.

Since World War II, Germany has confronted its own history to earn acceptance in the family of nations. Lily Gardner Feldman draws on the literature of religion, philosophy, social psychology, law and political science, and history to understand Germany's foreign policy with its moral and pragmatic motivations and to develop the concept of international reconciliation. Germany's Foreign Policy of Reconciliation traces Germany's path from enmity to amity by focusing on the behavior of individual leaders, governments, and non-governmental actors. The book demonstrates that, at least in the cases of France, Israel, Poland, and Czechoslovakia/the Czech Republic, Germany has gone far beyond banishing war with its former enemies; it has institutionalized active friendship. The German experience is now a model of its own, offering lessons for other cases of international reconciliation. Gardner Feldman concludes with an initial application of German reconciliation insights to the other principal post-World War II pariah, as Japan expands its relations with China and South Korea.

What will German foreign policy look like in 2015? This book speculates by making a provocative argument: what drives German foreign policy is its power position in Europe and on the international stage. Crawford examines Germany's manoeuvres in the Balkans, its role in EMU, and its leadership in curbing Europe's proliferation of WMD technology.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the West German government refused to exchange ambassadors with Israel. It feared Arab governments might retaliate against such an acknowledgement of their political foe by recognizing Communist East Germany-West Germany's own nemesis-as an independent state, and in doing so confirm Germany's division. Even though the goal of national unification was far more important to German policymakers than full reconciliation with Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust, in 1965 the Bonn government eventually did agree to commence diplomatic relations with Jerusalem. This was due, the author argues, to grassroots intervention in high-level politics. Students, the media, trade unions, and others pushed for reconciliation with Israel rather than the pursuit of German unification. For the first time, this book provides an in-depth look at the role society played in shaping Germany's relations with Israel. Today, German society continues to reject anti-Semitism, but is increasingly prepared to criticize Israeli policies, especially in the Palestinian territories. The author argues that this trend sets the stage for a German foreign policy that will continue to support Israel, but is likely to do so more selectively than in the past.

This book explores the role of France in the events leading up to the end of the Cold War and German unification. --from publisher description.

This book explores the effects of Germany's unification in 1990 on its policies toward the European Union.

This volume is comprised of a collection of diplomatic documents covering British reactions to, and policy towards, the collapse of the German Democratic Republic and the unification of Germany in 1989-90. The peaceful unification of Germany in 1989-90 brought a dramatic end to the Cold War. This volume documents official British reactions to the collapse of East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the evolution of British policy during the ‘Two plus Four’ negotiations that provided the international framework for the merger of the two German states. All of the documents fall within the UK’s 30-year rule and have therefore not previously been in the public domain. Most are drawn from the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, but there are also a large number of Prime Ministerial files from the Cabinet Office archives. These are of particular interest for the light they throw on the views of Margaret Thatcher. Taken together, the documents show that despite Mrs Thatcher’s well-known reservations about German unity, the United Kingdom played a vital and constructive role in the negotiations that helped to bring it about. This volume will be of great interest to students of International History, British Political History, and European Politics and International Relations in general. Patrick Salmon is Chief Historian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Keith Hamilton is a Historian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Senior Editor of Documents on British Policy Overseas. Stephen Twigge is a Senior Historian at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.