Diplomacy and Military Policy in the Balkans: From Recalcitrant Partner to Cooperative Leader

Abstract

The decision to send German combat troops to Kosovo dramatically demonstrated Germany’s post-Wall foreign and security policy. The war in which they fought was not defensive. The troops were not sent to protect Germany’s security. In fact, the troops were sent as part of a multilateral force to intervene in the territory of a sovereign state. Indeed, just a little more than a decade ago, that decision would have been unthinkable. But as a new century and a new chapter in Germany’s foreign policy began, Germany contributed more troops to multilateral foreign missions than any other country, and became the second largest financial contributor to NATO. At the same time, Germany stood firm in its defiant refusal to participate in the US invasion of Iraq, and its economic stagnation and budget crisis threatened to undermine the financial basis of policy transformation from deterrence to preventative war. This chapter tells the story of the events that led to these decisions and explains Germany’s dramatic foreign policy shift.