Foreign Affairs

Abstract

The western world initially greeted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual collapse of the Communist Eastern Bloc with great hopes for an equally liberal and peaceful world. Today, thirty years after the fact, and with many of the old certainties gone, the international world of states finds itself in a state of dangerous instability and increasing tensions. Against this background, it is not surprising that foreign policy has once again become the subject of a debate: what should it look like in the 21st century and what goals should it pursue? This essay does not claim to give an exhaustive answer to these questions. Neither is its author, Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Duisburg-Essen, satisfied with the demand recently made by the Former German Head of State Joachim Gauck, challenging Germany to thoroughly enhance its involvement in the world and assume a higher degree of responsibility that it did in the past. Rather, the essay takes a critical look at the theoretical foundations of such an involvement and argues for a new realism in foreign policy.