World power forsaken

Drawing on interviews and other primary source materials, this comprehensive study examines in detail each of the central issues of Germany's security policy since 1990: its promotion of political and economic reform in the former Soviet bloc, its efforts to maintain and strengthen European security institutions, the transformation of Germany's armed forces, and its responses to international crises and conflicts, including the debate over German participation in foreign military actions.

Rejecting claims that German policy is becoming nationalized and militarized, the author argues that Germany's actions have in fact been characterized by considerable restraint and continuity with the past, notwithstanding its much greater potential freedom of action after the Cold War.