German Foreign Policy

Germany has been a member of a wider circle of European nations that eventually became the European Union since 1957, and is also a member nation of NATO. Since East and West Germany were reunified in 1990, the German government has expanded its role as a Central European power, and become more involved with global affairs. Since the end of World War II, German foreign policy has supported the integration of Europe and promoted peaceful relationships with neighboring nations. Germans also rely on strong bonds with the United States in order to foster relationships and dictate policy. German foreign policy has been an extremely influential factor in the formation of the European Union, and has made Germany one of the most important players on the world stage today.

Germany has once again assumed a prominent military role in world affairs, deploying troops across the globe as a member of NATO and the European Union in order to moderate conflicts. German foreign policy has also been used to promote ecological awareness in an attempt to curtail global warming, pollution, and other environmental concerns. Over the past forty-five years, as European nations have made greater steps toward unification, Germany has been one of the biggest proponents of this process, helping to negotiate and carry out changes and accomplish many unification objectives.

Germany was one of the first nations to recognize that many of the important social issues it faced—such as immigration problems, aging populations, social welfare and pensions systems that were stretched thin—were also important to its neighbors. Germany sought to deepen its connection to its sister nations of the European Union, helping to create, among other things, the European Defense Force, and introducing the idea of a single European currency. These important parts of German foreign policy have helped to cement the relationship between the member nations of the European Union, as well as introduce many of the unifying principles thereof.

Germany’s ties to Western Europe are so strong, for instance, that there is actually a German word for it: Westbindung, which comes from the German word bindung, meaning any strong bond. As the world’s third-richest economy behind the United States and Japan, German foreign policy also helps to shape economic policies around the world. Germany also has a close relationship with Israel, and is instrumental in maintaining diplomacy in the Middle East. Germany also engaged in diplomatic negotiations with the Soviet Union, now Russia, after its reunification in 1990, in order to define the terms of Soviet withdrawal from the Eastern parts of Germany. Even today, Germany continues to be a world leader whose influential foreign policy has shaped politics, economics, and social reforms across the globe.