Germany's Foreign Policy of Reconciliation

Lily Gardner Feldman is Harry & Helen Gray Senior Fellow in Residence and director of the Society, Culture, and Politics Program at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

• Chapter 1: The Narrowness and Breadth of Reconciliation in the International ArenaChapter 2: Responsibility and Realism: The Contours of German Foreign Policy as Context for External Reconciliation Chapter 3: Germany's Relations with France: From Enmity to AmityChapter 4: Germany's Relations with Israel: From Abyss to MiracleChapter 5: Germany's Relations with Poland: From Community of Disputes to Close PartnershipChapter 6: Germany's Relations with the Czech Republic: From Community of Conflict to Predictable FriendshipChapter 7: Comparison and PrescriptionAppendix: Comparative Timeline of Germany's Reconciliation with France, Israel, Poland, and Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, 1945–2009Selected BibliographyInterviews

Readers may ask why the topic of reconciliation is not accorded greater attention within international relations. Feldman examines German postwar foreign policy and correctly identifies reconciliation as its guiding principle. Examining Germany's evolving postwar relations with Israel, France, Poland, and the Czech Republic, the author brings a distinctly historical perspective to a question that she nevertheless couches in political terms, namely, what factors have been key to Germany's approach. The book weaves together four factors—how history is leveraged, the role of national leaders, the centrality of government and non-government institutions, and finally the overall international context—and presents an in-depth analysis based upon a wealth of secondary sources. Eschewing the generation of a rigorous causal model, the book still succeeds in distilling which elements were necessary for reconciliation to occur. The highly contextualized findings render the book particularly valuable from a historical perspective, yet Feldman also cleverly seeks to extend its insights to comparable unresolved situations in East Asia; indeed, the book could also offer important lessons for internal conflicts involving ethnic violence and civil war. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.