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128 Book reviews – Comptes rendus – Buchbesprechungen Germany was not (and could not be) prepared for the management of the tasks of unification. Similarly, in early 1990s, Bonn mostly only reacted to the changing international environment and growing expectations in regard to German international involvement. As was to be expected, the attitude towards multilateral institutions has been the most important criteria of continuity and change in German policy after 1990. The book under review proves that German attitude towards the ECE may be regarded as another such criteria. Tewes offers an analysis of German policy vis-à-vis its Eastern neighbours of impressive depth and clarity. Going beyond a meticulous account of the complex political development, Tewes seeks to interpret the reality by elaborating on the theoretical framework of Civilian Power and role theory approach. Civilian Power and foreign policy culture There are a number of analytical approaches to German foreign policy explanations. Gunther Hellmann identified five schools of thought in his often-quoted analysis of German foreign policy discourse. 2 The review of the German foreign policy debate offered by Sebastian Harnisch organised the approaches along the three theoretical schools: the realist, institutionalist, and constructivist. 3 It is mainly the constructivist discourse, which Henning Tewes’s book contributes to. The author locates the Civilian Power concept within the school of constructivist liberalism. Based on norms and values, Civilian Power reflects the nature of the state/society and of the international organisations at the same time (p.18). Civilian Power is viewed as a promoter of multilateral co-operation, its core aims being welfare maximisation, enhancement of supranational institutionalisation, evolution (development?) of international law, foreign policy based on values. The principal values of Civilian Power are democratic rights, justice, multilateralism and non-military pursuit of foreign policy objectives (p.202). Tewes argues that the basic concepts of Civilian Power are those of interdependence and collective or co-operative security (p.11). He employs also the concept of foreign policy culture as defined by Peter Katzenstein. According to Katzenstein, foreign policy culture is embodied in custom and law, in treaties and constitutional documents and is related to the “material structures of state organisation” (p.25). In order to operationalise his analysis of German foreign policy, Tewes elaborates on the role theory. The theory, he suggests, is able to trace a link between the identity of a state, its foreign policy culture and particular policies. The role theory can help to specify the way the domestic cultural-institutional context manifested itself in particular policy patterns described as roles. Also, as there is a whole set of roles and role conceptions, the role theory is presented as a tool, which can identify the hierarchy between them. According to Tewes, the role theory approach can lead us to more specific assumptions about German attitude to its Eastern neighbours (pp.26-28). As civilianization of domestic politics (relations between state and society) is the precondition for the exercise of Civilian Power, the structural conditions for such policy could be established only after 1945, on the basis of the democratic Basic Law and social-market economy. By applying his methodological approach, Tewes avoided the argument about the origins of German democracy and foreign policy in which one attitude focuses on the role of Konrad Adenauer (Arnulf Baring) and the opposite view underlines the dominant role of the victorious Western powers (Helga Haftendorn). The Civilian Power and the role theory approach as applied by Tewes is concerned rather with policy processes and their outcomes. Tewes makes clear, however, that without the post-war division, 2. G. HELLMANN, Goodbye Bismarck? The Foreign Policy of Contemporary Germany, in: Mershon International Studies Review, 40(1996), pp.1-39. 3. S. HARNISCH, Change and Continuity in Post-Unification German Foreign Policy, in: D. WEB- BER (ed.), New Europe, New Germany, Old Foreign Policy? German Politics (Special Issue), 1(2001), p.36.
Book reviews – Comptes rendus – Buchbesprechungen 129 Germany would have hardly been able to escape its Mittellage and establish its democratic foundation (p.38). Six principles, which Tewes spells out as distinctive features of Germany as a Civilian Power tie together Germany, Western integration, and civilianization. They include Franco-German partnership and the departure from balance-of-powers politics. Germany recognised the principle of shared sovereignty on the Community level, the process character of European integration and its progressive nature (pp.40-42). Instead of relative gains Germany has pursued positive gains and “transformative goals” (p.204). Pursuing Civilian Power principles does not mean neglecting national interest. The latter is not, however, perceived as individualistic but rather in the context of the growing interdependence in international relations. Civilian Power promotes good governance, democratisation and sustainable development. Preference of collective action, compromise and mediation, of institutional solutions, partnership and collective enforcement of international norms characterise its policy style. Relations with the ECE: a test of the Civilian Power policy Relations with East central Europe are highly asymmetrical, loaded with historical memory and with political implications from the past for the present. Has Germany become more assertive, seeking one-sided (national) advantage and pursuing a path of individual policy-making rather than developing collective, co-operative and multilateral action? The author’s hypothesis is that after 1990, German Civilian Power would first seek to eliminate all bilateral problems in relations with its partners to the East. Then, it would try to export Civilian Power to these countries: civilanization of the young Eastern democracies “occurs through stabilisation, which in turn occurs through multilateral frameworks” (p.48). Following his methodology Tewes defines six roles most typical for the Federal Republic’s foreign policy: integration deepener, integration widener, security consumer, Atlanticist, Gaullist and Moscovite. He seeks to clarify the conflicting inter-relationships between the individual role concepts by prioritising, by “role change” and “role merger”. Germany sought trustful relationships with the Eastern neighbours after 1989. The task was facilitated by the fact that Germany had no intention to revive political Mitteleuropa concept in any form, or to pull strings on the issue of the Oder-Neisse border. After all, giving up territorial expansion became one of the most important fundaments of German political culture after the World War 2. Tewes points out that Germany turned away from the territorial politics of the past with Willy Brand’s Ostpolitik. The unprecedented congruence of interests of Germany and its Eastern neighbours notwithstanding, trustful relations between Germany and its Eastern neighbours (Poles and Czechs) had to overcome inherent tension regarding the past, mainly the post-war settlement. Tewes comes to the conclusion that the Civilian Power role of Germany was “negated” (p.62) by the influence of domestic considerations on Helmut Kohl’s treatment of the Oder-Neisse issue and, as we would add, the Sudeten-German issue. The impact of expellee organisations on German policy has been an important factor in the domestic balance of powers for conservative parties. The Chairwoman of the expellee organisation in fact tried to blackmail Poles and Czechs with the view of their interest in the EU accession. Germany manoeuvred itself even into an isolated position after Minister Klaus Kinkel denied the legal validity of the Potsdam agreement in the course of negotiation of the German-Czech declaration of 1997 (p.75). Tewes concludes that in its bilateral relations Germany failed to approximate Civilian Power ideals. The main reasons are the German legalistic political culture, which seeks legal solutions to political problems, reinforced by a particular set of domestic interests (p.78). The double enlargement Tewes finds the record of Germany in terms of the Civilian Power model rather mixed in the early phase of the EU enlargement to the East. Germany favoured deepening and defence of its domestic interests to civilanization through multilateral stabilisation (p.89).
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5 Introduction Anne Deighton This v
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Our Man in Paris: The British Embas
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Our Man in Paris 47 Brown’s desir
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Our Man in Paris 49 The Paris embas
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Our Man in Paris 51 The probe: Janu
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Our Man in Paris 53 the best the Ge
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The Soames Affair 61 However, recen
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The Soames Affair 63 reiterated old
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The Soames Affair 65 hours left bef
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The Soames Affair 75 After effects
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