'Ghosts of 'Old Europe' ? US-German relations under the Red-Green coalition in Berlin.

Abstract

This contribution argues that the reorientation of US foreign policy under the Bush/Cheney administration towards unilateralism and pre-emptive military "hard" power fundamentally challenges the transatlantic consensus between Europe and America. This applies in particular to the traditionally close bilateral relations between the US and Germany, which were based on multilateral consultations and co-operation within the framework of NATO. The German foreign policy approach of multilateral responsibility, developed under the red-green coalition after 1998, which combines the post-WW2 German foreign policy tradition of "soft" power multilateral conflict resolution with the acceptance of full military burden-sharing with the NATO allies stands in stark contrast to the US strategy in the war against terror.