Coming of Age

In this authoritative book, the only work to cover the full sweep of German foreign policy since the end of World War II, noted scholar Helga Haftendorn explores Germany's remarkable recovery from wartime defeat and destruction. Offspring of the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic entered the international arena in 1949 under three crippling constraints: they were held accountable for the crimes of the Third Reich, they were fully dependent on the occupation powers, and their international room for maneuver was limited by an East-West conflict that placed Bonn and East Berlin on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Tracing the FRG's strategy of multilateralism, Haftendorn convincingly demonstrates how these liabilities transformed into opportunities as Germany found a security guarantee in NATO membership and economic and political rewards in the system of European integration. The author's overview of past half-century shows a high degree of continuity and consistency in German foreign policy despite the tumultuous events of the era. However, Haftendorn argues that Germany's traditional policy of self-restraint was increasingly counterbalanced by a more assertive stance after reunification and the rise of a post-war generation to power. Although the country's leaders continued to value international institutions, the benefits were increasingly weighed against Germany's enlightened self-interest. Scholars and students of contemporary Germany, Europe, and East-West relations will find this nuanced and knowledgeable study invaluable.

This title is to be welcomed as the first major overview of postwar German foreign policy in English since Wolfram F. Hanrieder's Germany, America, Europe: Forty Years of German Foreign Policy, which first appeared in 1989., A sober and intelligent overview of German foreign policy in the whole post-World War II period written by one of the most important people in the field. It offers an invaluable historical perspective on Germany's relations today with the rest of the world, especially the United States., Americans will have to take a new look at Germany after the break over the war in Iraq. This book is a good place to start. It is the best single introduction to contemporary German foreign policy in English. Professor Haftendorn knows both her subject and her audience well and conveys a complex history in a clear and accessible style., A lucid and balanced analysis of Germany's diplomatic evolution and role in the world, especially in the realm of security and strategic issues. It will be a very useful book in courses on postwar Germany.

Helga Haftendorn is professor emeritus, Free University of Berlin.