Explaining Post-Wall Change in German Foreign Policy

Abstract

The puzzles of German foreign policy discussed in the previous chapter represent important policy ’shifts,’ and these shifts cry out for explanation. In the three cases that follow this chapter, I show how Germany’s post-Wall behavior deviated significantly from its behavior in the previous four decades. In this chapter, I approach the central questions of this book from the standpoint of theory. After describing a number of alternative theoretical positions, I present the theory of ‘embedded hegemony.’