Abstract
There was a lot of speculation not only on the domestic effect of German unification but also on the effect it would have on its international role. Would Germany’s increase in size and new central position in the post-Cold War order go hand in hand with a new self-understanding? Would its national identity continue to be influenced by its Nazi past or would it come out of the ‘shadow’ of the Third Reich and reassert itself? Would it continue to build on the ‘soft power’ accumulated during the lifetime of the Bonn Republic or would it resort to a more conventional Machtpolitik (power politics)? And how would the new Germany fit into the new Europe?
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Notes
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© 2010 Ruth Wittlinger
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Wittlinger, R. (2010). Introduction: A Different Republic After All?. In: German National Identity in the Twenty-First Century. New Perspectives in German Political Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230290495_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230290495_1
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