German Foreign and Security Policy: Trends and Transatlantic Implications

Summary:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel took office in November 2005 promising a foreign policy anchored in a revitalised transatlantic partnership. Most observers agree that since reaching a low-point in the lead-up to the Iraq war in 2003, relations between the United States and Germany have improved. With recent leadership changes in the United Kingdom and France, and a fragile coalition government in Italy, U.S. officials view Germany under Chancellor Merkel as a key U.S. ally in Europe. Despite continuing areas of divergence, President Bush and many Members of Congress have welcomed German leadership in Europe and have voiced expectations for increased U.S.-German cooperation on the international stage. German unification in 1990 and the end of the Cold War represented monumental shifts in the geopolitical realities that had traditionally defined German foreign policy. Germany was once again Europe's largest country, and the Soviet threat, which had served to unite West Germany with its pro-western neighbors and the United States, was no longer. Since the early 1990s, German leaders have been challenged to exercise a foreign policy grounded in a long-standing commitment to multilateralism and an aversion to military force while simultaneously seeking to assume the more proactive global role many argue is necessary to confront emerging security threats. Until 1994, Germany was constitutionally barred from deploying its armed forces abroad. Today, over 7,000 German troops are deployed in peacekeeping, stabilization, and reconstruction missions worldwide. As Germany's foreign and security policy continues to evolve, some experts perceive a widening gap between the global ambitions of Germany's political class, and an increasingly skeptical German public. Since the end of the Cold War, Germany's relations with the United States have been shaped by several key factors. These include Germany's growing support for a stronger, more capable European Union, and its continued allegiance to NATO as the primary guarantor of European security; Germany's ability and willingness to undertake the defense reforms many argue are necessary for it to meet its commitments within NATO and a burgeoning European Security and Defense Policy; and German popular opinion, especially the influence of strong public opposition to recent U.S. foreign policies on German leaders. Under Merkel's leadership, Germany has sought to boost transatlantic cooperation in areas ranging from economic and trade relations, climate change policy, and global counterterrorism and non-proliferation policy, to peacekeeping, reconstruction and stabilization efforts in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. Merkel has enjoyed relatively strong domestic support for her transatlantically-oriented foreign policy agenda. However, as her term progresses, and domestic political tensions mount, she may be more hard-pressed to justify her Atlanticist foreign policy agenda to a public which appears increasingly skeptical of U.S. influence in the world. This report may be updated as needed.

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