Posted November 20, 2009
Transatlantic Relations | German-American Relations | Europe - European Union | NATO
A Shared Security Strategy for a Euro-Atlantic Partnership of Equals
Shapiro, Jeremy; Witney, Nick
Brookings Institute,
November 2, 2009, online edition, 43p
"The authors examine transatlantic relations in what they call a 'post-American world' that is witnessing increasingly redistributed power. Shapiro and Witney argue that the real threat to the transatlantic relationship comes not from the remaking of America's global strategy, but from European governments' failure to come to terms with how the world is changing."
Jeremy Shapiro is Director of Research at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. Nick Witney is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Fulltext F1/05-09/2009
Toward a Transatlantic Eastern Policy? The U.S., the EU, and the "In-Between States"
Lang, Kai-Olaf
American Institute for German Contemporary Studies (AIGCS), October 2009, online edition, 38p
"This report examines the European and American policies vis-à-vis Russia and the post-Soviet space over the past decade. Germany, as one of the most significant political and economic players in the European Union, a bridge between eastern and western Europe, and one of the U.S.’ most important allies, plays a special role in European and transatlantic policies vis-à-vis this region."
Kai-Olaf Lang is
a Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP). Fulltext F2/05-09
Still Not Pushing Back: Why the European Union Is Not Balancing the United States
Howorth, Jolyon; Menon, Anand
Journal of Conflict Resolution, October 2009, v53, #5, pp727-744
"A recent wave of scholarly literature has argued forcibly that the European Union’s European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) represents an attempt on the part of the EU to 'balance' against the United States. According to such analyses, the EU is reacting to American global preeminence by building up its military capacities to enhance its own ability to play a significant, autonomous role in international affairs. This article takes issue with such claims and points to significant theoretical and methodological shortcomings inherent in the work of the 'soft balancers.'"
Jolyon Howorth is Professor of Political Science at Yale University, New Haven. Anand Menon is Professor of West European Politics in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. Order article F3/05-09
The Fiscal Crisis: Transatlantic Misunderstandings
Brown, Bernard E.
American Foreign Policy Interests, September 2009, v31, #5, pp313-324
"It is widely believed in Europe that the fiscal crisis was caused by the absence of government regulation of the financial sector in the United States. This belief, the article argues, is an oversimplification that encourages unrealistic hopes for quick solutions and for a drastic shift of the balance of power from the United States to the European Union and other actors. In conclusion, the article points to underlying problems of the 'market-state,' the dominant economic model in all advanced democracies today."
Bernard E. Brown is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and author and editor of over a dozen books. Order article F4/05-09
The German Elections: False Dawn for the Obama-Merkel Era
McNamara, Sally
Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder Nr. 2330, October 20, 2009, online edition, 11p
"While German–American relations have improved in tone from the thinly veiled hostility of Gerhard Schroeder’s chancellorship, all is not perfect between recently re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Obama. German troops in Afghanistan sit on the sidelines while American and British soldiers fight and die; Germany actively pursues trade with Iran, opposing tougher sanctions on the terror regime; Berlin and Moscow are becoming disconcertingly cozy; and Merkel supports a separate EU defense force at the expense of Germany’s NATO commitments. This essay details crucial steps that the Obama Administration should pursue—not just for the sake of the transatlantic relationship, but also in the interest of U.S. security."
Sally McNamara is a Sally McNamara is a Senior Policy Analyst in European Affairs at The Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom. Fulltext F5/05-09
Can Berlin and Washington Agree on Russia?
Szabo, Stephen F.
The Washington Quarterly,
October 2009, v32, #4, pp23-41
"Both Russia and Germany are back on the US agenda. Russia will be a key element of a wide array of policies to the Obama administration, including dealing with Iran and the construction of a broader nonproliferation regime, energy security, nuclear arms reductions, and Afghanistan. Russia policy will also be central to US designs for NATO, including how to deal with Georgia and Ukraine, and the viability of a pan-European security structure. Germany will be the key player in Europe on dealing with Russia. Given the lack of any consensus in Europe over Russia, Berlin plays a decisive role in shaping a coherent and successful Russia policy. Yet, while Germany is crucial to any Western policy consensus on Russia, there are real differences in interests, cultures, and approaches between Berlin and Washington, which could lead to dangerous divisions if not handled well. There is a real danger that without a common approach, Germany could increasingly play the role of a mediator between Russia and the US. Here, Szabo discusses the sources of divergence and convergence of interests between Berlin and Washington and examines whether they could develop a common strategy."
Stephen F. Szabo is the Executive Director of the Transatlantic Academy. Fulltext F6/05-09
Is Germany Normal?
The American Interest, November/December 2009, v5, #2
-
Geography and Character
Hassner, Pierre
The American Interest, November/December, v5, #2, pp54-57
Hassner argues that there "are the two basic reasons why Germany could not be a normal country: its geographical situation, and a national character with an unusually low threshold for the ambiguity reality naturally tends to serve up. Both go back far in history but took on a more dramatic character with the consequences of World War II: the stark division of Germany and the searing memory of the Nazi regime and its unprecedented crimes. The question now is whether, some 64 years after World War II and twenty years after German reunification, these reasons have lost whatever validity they may have had."
Pierre Hassner is Research Director Emeritus at the National Foundation for Political Science in Paris. Order article F7a/05-09
- Analyze Das
Stelzenmüller, Constanze
The American Interest, November/December, v5, #2, pp61-63
"Ninety years after 1919, seventy years after 1939, twenty years after 1989: Could it be it time for Germany to declare normalcy, for Germans to stop obsessing about their history and start living in the present? After all, we Germans have accomplished what is today broadly reckoned to be an honorable and complete accounting of the guilt amassed in the Holocaust and two world wars (admittedly, with some early prodding from outside, including the Nuremberg Tribunal and the Eichmann trial). By now, our relentless navel-gazing bores even our friends. At worst, it is hard to distinguish from self-indulgence, complacency, or a disguise for attitudes based on entirely different premises. Our allies feel strongly that our obsession is preventing us from paying appropriate attention to more urgent matters, such as bearing our fair share of the burden in Afghanistan. So what on earth is keeping us from lifting our national gaze from our navels to a more normal horizon?"
Constanze Stelzenmüller is a Senior Transatlantic Fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. Order article F7b/05-09
- The Siren Song of 'Normalcy'
Donfried, Karen
The American Interest, November/December, v5, #2, online edition
"'Normal' tends not to be an adjective that individuals or nations cherish for themselves. Who wants to be merely normal, average or typical when one can be exceptional or superior? Germans do, and it is not hard to understand why. As a united polity only since 1870, Germany's bloody odyssey from the Franco-Prussian War to World War I, revolution, depression, Hitler, World War II, the Holocaust, and a country divided into two diametrically opposed political systems defines its historic 'normalcy.' At least for Germans born after World War II, normal meant being deviant, subject to a kind of metaphysical disfigurement, symbolized in concrete by the hideous wall sprawled across Berlin. Thus to be genuinely normal meant Germany must divorce itself from its own history, an abnormal enterprise-and so a problem of another sort. To what extent has Germany achieved this divorce and solved this problem?"
Karen Donfried is Executive Vice President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Fulltext F7c/05-09
- From the Middle to the Center
Kornblum, John C.
The American Interest, November/December, v5, #2, pp68-70
"Has Germany become more normal over the past two decades? More normal than what? Today’s Federal Republic behaves quite logically for the situation in which Germany finds itself, but its self-image is still defined by mental maps that are shrouded by the past. Generational change and the dramatic new circumstances of a globally integrated world are likely to change these maps dramatically over the next decade. As they do, Germany’s definition of what is normal is likely steadily to evolve. First indications are that Germany will deal well with the new normality of the 21st century, but that is not yet the question before us. Put slightly differently, that question is, why do we all work so hard at trying to make Germany 'normal' in the first place?"
John Kornblum serves as a Senior Adviser to a number of companies in Germany and Europe including Accenture and the German international law partnership Noerr Stiefenhofer Lutz. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs and Special Envoy to the Balkans from 1995–97, and as U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 1997–2001. Order article F7d/05-09
Germany's Options in Afghanistan
Noetzel, Timo; Rid, Thomas
Survival, October 2009, v51, #5, pp71-09
"Germany's military mission in Afghanistan has become increasingly politicised in the eight years since it was launched. Political and ideological differences between parties and even between ministries are becoming more pronounced, not less. This trend narrows the room for manoeuvre and limits the strategic debate. Greater instability in Kunduz province, at the heart of Germany's area of regional responsibility in Afghanistan, has two immediate effects: it both increases the need to act decisively and it heightens the risk of political paralysis in Berlin. This article argues that the latter is likely to prevail."
Timo Noetzel is a Research Group Leader at the Centre of Excellence at Konstanz University and a Fellow of the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, Berlin. Thomas Rid is a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and an Adjunct Professor at the School of International Service, American University. Order article F8/05-09
Europe's New Security Dilemma
Vidino, Lorenzio
The Washington Quarterly,
October 2009, v32
, #4, pp61-75
"After the September 11, 2001, attacks, governments throughout the world rushed to improve their counterterrorism policies. Several countries tightened legislation, increased resources available to their intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and established repressive policies to uncover and prosecute terrorist networks. Policymakers, fearing an imminent attack, understandably focused their attention on aggressive methods. Yet, over the last few years, many governments have started thinking about more nuanced, comprehensive, and long-term counterterrorism policies, understanding that simply trying to dismantle terrorist networks is like playing a never-ending game of “whack-a-mole,” unless steps are also taken to prevent the radicalization of scores of potential new militants."
Lorenzo Vidino is a Fellow in the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Fulltext F9/05-09
The European Union: Questions & Answers
Archick, Kristin; Mix, Derek E.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report, September 25, 2009, online edition, 11p
"The United States and the EU share a large, mutually beneficial trade and investment relationship. The global financial crisis and recession has challenged both sides to forge a common response. The United States and EU have a number of lingering trade disputes, but have led the push to
liberalize world trade, and have sought to reduce non-tariff and regulatory barriers in the transatlantic marketplace. With compatible worldviews on most global issues, the United States and the EU also have a well developed and cooperative political relationship. This report provides a summary overview of these issues, many of which may be of interest to the 111th Congress."
Kristin Archick is a Specialist in European Affairs; Derek E. Mix is Analyst in European Affairs at CRS. Fulltext F11/05-09
Can the EU Rebuild Failing States? A Review of Europe’s Civilian
Capacities
Korski, Daniel; Gowan, Richard
European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), October 2009, online edition, 99p
"In the next two decades, the persistent weakness of some states and regions may well prove a greater strategic challenge to the international community than the emergence of new powers like China. Having been in charge of UN peacekeeping for eight years, I believe we are not prepared to meet this challenge. We have been used to balancing power with power, but we are ill-equipped to deal with weakness: fragile states may require military deployments of peacekeepers, but strengthening them or managing their collapse requires much more complex strategies, drawing heavily on civilian capacities. One would expect the European Union, supposedly the civilian power par excellence, to be at the forefront of this effort, and certainly well ahead of the US, which has often been criticised for a Pentagon-dominated approach. Yet the Americans are fast learning the lessons of their difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan, and energetically building their civilian capacities. The Europeans, despite having set themselves ambitious “civilian headline goals” in 2004, are at risk of being left behind."
Daniel Korski joined the European Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Policy Fellow in October 2007. Previously, he was a Senior Adviser in the U.S State Department, a position he was seconded to by the British Government. Richard Gowan is an Associate Director, Multilateral Diplomacy and a Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Fulltext F12/05-09
An Agenda for NATO - Toward a Global Security Web
Brzezinski, Zbigniew
Foreign Affairs, September/October 2009, v8, #5, pp2-20
"The article discusses the historical role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and details the major historical impact that the organization has made on the world since its inception, including its ending of the battle for transoceanic and European supremacy by Western countries, its commitment to defend Europe against Soviet domination after World War II, and the peaceful termination of the Cold War. The author discusses the organization's potential future plans and its role in world politics."
Zbigniew Brzezinski was U.S. National Security Adviser from 1977 to 1981. His most recent book is Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower. Fulltext F13/05-09
NATO and Russia: Partnership or Peril?
Trenin, Dmitri
Current History, October 2009, v108, #720, pp299-303
"Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the major piece of unfinished post-Cold War business is Russia’s absence from a European security framework. This affects not just Russia, but its neighbors, such as Ukraine and Georgia, as seen by the August 2008 conflict in the Caucasus. The author says it is unlikely that Russia will join the U.S.-led NATO alliance in the foreseeable future, so the only option is to pursue the long and difficult path toward a security community that would include NATO members and non-members and also emphasizes that 'it is important that the Russians do not feel that a common front of Western allies is ganging up on them,' and making them feel that they are 'equals among equals' would do a lot to promote security in Europe."
Dmitri Trenin is Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. Order article F14/-5-09
Nato Enlargement Post-1989: Successful Adaptation or Decline?
Michta, Andrew A.
Contemporary European History, August 2009, v18, #3, pp363-376
"NATO enlargement after the cold war contributed to the democratic transformation of post-communist states. It failed, however, to generate a larger consensus on the shared mission and to provide the requisite military capabilities. Today, notwithstanding the rhetoric of unity after the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO struggles to reconcile the out-of-area experience of the Balkan wars with its post-9/11 tasks and the renewed territorial defense concerns raised by the 2008 Russo-Georgian war. Paradoxically, the more NATO has expanded to foster the military–political security of the new democratic states of eastern and south-eastern Europe, the less it seems capable of dealing with real security threats such as Afghanistan. Facing the possible strategic failure of its ISAF mission, NATO needs to re-evaluate the policy track chosen post-1989." Order article F15/05-09
|
