German foreign policy since unification. Theories and case studies

Book abstract:

This book forms part of a series, Issues in German Politics, which provides scholarly analysis of domestic and foreign policy in the post unity era. It uses three theories of foreign policy, neorealism, utilatitarian liberalism and constructivism, to examine the cause of continuity and change in post-unification Germany. It then tests the prediction arrived at by the three theories as to German foreign policy behaviour, before assessing whether Germany's foreign policy is marked by continuity or change.

The book has four parts with contributions from a range of academics. The first provides discourse analysis of the debate over German foreign policy after unification. The second part focuses attention on the foreign policy theories that were used. To meet the criteria to test Germany's foreign policy behaviour it was necessary to specifically construct the three theories of foreign policy using influential schools of thought in international relations policy and foreign policy analysis. The third part puts these theories to an empirical test. It uses case studies of four areas of German foreign policy: German security policy within NATO; German European Union constitutional foreign policy; German foreign trade policy within the European Union and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; and German human rights policy within the United Nations. Within each of these case studies pre- and post-unification foreign policy behaviour is examined. The final part compiles the theoretical and empirical findings and puts them into perspective. It analyses whether continuity or change prevails in German foreign policy and assesses which of the three theories used was most successful in showing this.

The book is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students of comparative foreign policy, international relations, German politics and German studies.

Volker Rittberger is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Tubingen.