Recognition Refused

Abstract

This chapter explores how Imperial Germany came to be viewed by the established European powers as a revisionist power. It argues that as Germany became more uncertain about its status in the international order, its fear of misrecognition increased and in response it turned to the recognitive practices constitutive of world power status to ameliorate its growing social insecurity. Specifically, Germany’s fear of misrecognition sustained the Anglo-German naval race, making a naval understanding impossible despite repeated British attempts at negotiating an arms control agreement. Moreover, the fear of misrecognition and experience of disrespect led Germany into a second confrontation with Britain over the independent status of Morocco during the Agadir Crisis. Germany’s belligerent foreign policy and willingness to risk war over matters not of vital interest led the European great powers to increasingly view Germany as a revisionist state whose power needed to be contained. The chapter shows how the experience of humiliation drove German foreign policy, contributing to its construction as a revisionist power and destabilizing the international order in the years before the First World War.