Between fear and hope – searching for a new role of united Germany in the international arena. An outline of the debates among politicians and intellectuals in the early 1990s

Abstract

The reunification of Germany in 1990 led to the creation of the largest and most populous EU member state. Due to Germany’s past and the fact that the reunification process was surprisingly fast, questions about the role and international ambitions of reunited Germany became an important part of the international debate of the time. This question had to be answered by Germans themselves in the first place. This article presents the debates among politicians and selected intellectuals (primarily political scientists and economists) who took place in Germany in the first 5 years after the reunification. It presents key contentious issues, different visions of Germany’s role and contradictory expectations of international players. Its final part also quotes the then criticism of specific actions of the German government on the international scene, which reflected ambivalent, often contradictory expectations towards reunited Germany.

Keywords

• reunited Germany
• Germany's role in the 1990s
• the concept of Zivilmacht
• Germany as a trade state
• debate on the role of reunited Germany