Germany's foreign policy after the End of the Cold War: 'becoming normal?'

Germany is increasingly expected to behave like a “normal” international actor, that is, an actor who assumes international responsibility in accordance with its international stature and whose involvement in international affairs is not—or to a lesser degree than during the Cold War—circumscribed by its past. Those changes in the expectations from its transatlantic and European partners put under strain Germany’s international self-conception. So do changes in the domestic environment, where the constraints on German foreign policy decision makers have grown stronger in recent years. As a result, the “civilian power” role, which shaped Germany’s foreign policy during the Cold War, has been increasingly called into question, and it is not yet clear as to whether it will be replaced by a new master role for the country in international affairs.