The Paradox of German Power
Published on 16. June 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-84904-719-7 (ISBN)
Description
A 'German Europe' seems to have emerged from the euro crisis. During the last few years, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been compared with Hitler in the European media and on the streets of European capitals. There has been much debate about German 'hegemony' and some have even perceived the emergence of a kind of German 'empire' within Europe. And yet Germany is clearly a different country than it was in the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. So is there a new 'German question' and, if so, what is it? In The Paradox of German Power Hans Kundnani explores the transformation of Germany since re-unification in 1990 and puts it in the context of Germany's pre-1945 history. He examines a series of tensions in German foreign policy - between continuity and change, between 'normality' and 'abnormality', between economics and politics, and between Europe and the world - and concludes that the 'German question' has reemerged in geo economic form.
Reviews / Votes
'[Kundnani argues] that today's European Union is seeing a rerun of "the German question" that emerged after the founding of the Prussian empire. This time, Germany is not a military power but an economic one. Its economy is too dominant to preserve a stable balance with its eurozone and EU partners, yet too weak to enforce economic stability from above, he says. He calls it a "geo-economic semi-hegemon", with the potential to cause a bitter and possibly disastrous conflict with its closest partners... his thesis is tempting.' * The Financial Times * 'This is an intelligent, [...] lively and well-written survey of recent German foreign policy and Hans Kundnani's emphasis on Germany as a geo-economic power will be influential.' - International Affairs; 'A punchy and persuasive survey of 150 years of German foreign policy ... Kundnani's conclusions are sobering. "The Europe that is emerging from the crisis," he warns, "is not so much German as chaotic".' * The Wall Street Journal * 'A major contribution to our understanding of the evolution of contemporary Europe.' * Anthony Giddens *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 136 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84904-719-7 (9781849047197)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hans Kundnani is Editorial Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, having previously worked as a journalist for The Guardian, The Observer, Financial Times, Prospect and the Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of Utopia or Auschwitz: Germany's 1968 Generation and the Holocaust, also published by Hurst.