Breaches And Bridges: German Foreign Policy In Turbulent Times

German Foreign Policy in Turbulent Times

Frank-Walter Steinmeier

• Publisher: WSPC (EUROPE)
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781786343673
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

-->

Breaches and Bridges — German Foreign Policy in Turbulent Times features an agenda-setting speech by the Federal President of Germany, Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, delivered as a GIGA Distinguished Speaker Lecture in June 2016, when he served as the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.

This speech is accompanied by two essays. The first is an introduction by the First Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, which reflects on the role of the Hanseatic City in world affairs. The second is a brief analysis by Professor Amrita Narlikar, President of the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies. Narlikar identifies the necessity for a more profound understanding of historical trajectories, political traditions, and bargaining cultures of international negotiating partners, and invokes new forms of leadership and cooperation in global governance.

In his speech, Dr Steinmeier announces the German candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and outlines German foreign policy with its cornerstones of peace, justice, innovation, and partnership. In a period of global transition and turmoil, the world needs creative and feasible solutions. This volume (with articles in both English and German) will be a valuable resource for students, academics, policymakers, and practitioners in the field of international relations and foreign affairs.

-->
--> Contents: --> -->
--> Readership: Academics, practitioners, and general public interested in German foreign policy, globalisation and global governance. -->
Keywords:Germany;Foreign Policy;Global Governance;GlobalisationReview:0

Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier

GIGA Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series

Breaches and Bridges — German Foreign Policy in Turbulent Times

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs

Frank-Walter Steinmeier

Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke upon invitation by the GIGA on 27 June 2016 at Hamburg City Hall.

Olaf,

Professor Narlikar,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have just come from the beautiful Speicherstadt, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. I would once again like to convey to you, Olaf, and all the people of Hamburg here today, my sincere congratulations on this achievement! However, the title of my speech – breaches and bridges – has nothing to do with the Speicherstadt ... The Speicherstadt is a brickbuilt reminder of why Hamburg is the gateway to the world for Germans. The history of the Hanseatic League, Hamburg’s port and the famous civic spirit of Hamburg’s citizens have a reputation that extends far beyond the city’s boundaries.

A lesser-known fact, and wrongly so, is that here in Hamburg there is a concentration of academic expertise on central foreign and security policy issues that can be found hardly anywhere else in Germany. I am referring to the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, which celebrated its 50th anniversary two years ago. And I am also thinking of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, the Institute for Theology and Peace, the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Centre for Science and Peace Research, the Max Planck Institute, the Körber Foundation, the Helmut Schmidt University and the Federal Armed Forces Command and Staff College – you get the idea. International expertise in Hamburg is considerable. Through research, teaching and advisory services, all these institutions help open doors to a world that seems increasingly complex and unpredictable.

“The world around us is changing more quickly than ever before. Those who want to understand it can’t just sit back and accept the certainties from yesterday.” Wise words – and they aren’t mine, or even from Helmut Schmidt. They come from the GIGA and were written for its anniversary. Professor Narlikar, I was very happy to accept your invitation to speak here today on German foreign policy in turbulent and uncertain times. And thank you, Olaf, for allowing us to use this wonderful hall for this purpose.

∗∗∗

We live in turbulent times. After the end of the Cold War, we thought that the triumphant progress of peace, freedom and democracy would begin throughout the world. Some even wrote books about “the end of history”. Today, we are realising that that wasn’t actually the case ... On the contrary, crises and conflicts are coming thick and fast, and liberal democracy seems to be on the wane in many places. That is no coincidence.

In 1989/1990, the old, cynical order of the Cold War collapsed – fortunately, in particular from our perspective as Germans. Yet since then, the world has failed to find a new order to replace it. Today, we are witnessing the wrestling for a new order, the power struggles between old and new powers, between state and nonstate players with a host of interests, ambitions, ideologies. Much of what has become familiar to us over the past years and decades is breaking up – and so far, we have not managed to put a stop to this process:

•Through its annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine, Russia broke with the postwar order in Europe with which my generation grew up.

•Syria, Iraq, Libya – not only are the conflicts moving closer to Europe, they have arrived in our midst – in the form of refugees and many thousands of people seeking protection from the trouble spots in the Middle East.

•And there is more: the European Union is now also in the grip of crisis. On Thursday, we had to witness something that hardly anyone had considered possible, or wanted to consider possible – I, too, hoped right up until the end that the outcome would be different. The United Kingdom, a major and decisive partner, will leave the European Union. The forces trying to pull Europe apart are huge.

•And in the Brexit referendum – alongside its consequences for European policy – we must also recognise another dimension: the more complex the situation is, the louder the populist voices become. Whether we’re talking about Trump or right-wing populists here in Europe, these are people who respond to the problems of an increasingly complex world with ready-made, simplistic, black and white slogans claiming that “Cutting ourselves off is the best solution. Leave the world and its problems outside!” And as much as responsible policymakers know how wrong these answers are, we have to embrace the sad fact that these populists exert a strong pull on voters in our democracies too.

What we are witnessing, at the end of the day, is a contradictory and confusing world. A world that on the one hand is growing ever more intertwined, but whose contrasts are colliding, unchecked, with ever more speed on the other. We are witnessing a world in search of a new order, and I suspect this search will continue for a long time yet.

∗∗∗

If this is the case, it must have consequences for our foreign policy activities. Germany, as a country which maintains close economic, political and social ties with the global community – some studies even describe it as the most highly connected country in the world – is particularly reliant on a functioning, peaceful and rules-based international order. And since that is the case, we have to do all the more to preserve and develop this order.

The phrase, “Order must prevail” is often attributed to the Germans.

In itself it is a pretty meaningless statement – at least in foreign policy. Order is not an end in itself. Anyone who calls for order must define what kind of order and what goals we are working for. In our case, the desired goals are peace – justice – innovation – partnership. Perhaps you have already noticed these key words on the banners in the foyer. I’ll explain towards the end of my speech what that means in the context of the United Nations.

∗∗∗

These key words reflect our values. Yet, at the same time those of us engaged in foreign policy need to recognise the values other players on the international stage are seeking in their concepts of order. Where are the regional, cultural and societal differences? What are the stories and narrative patterns, the dreams and traumas of societies, which define the political and social structures over and above the existing order?

After a long day at the last UN General Assembly, I was standing one evening with a foreign minister counterpart outside our delegations’ hotel in Manhattan, and we watched a few members of my delegation who were just leaving the hotel, and my colleague said to me: “Frank-Walter, I like you Germans really. Football, cars, beer ... But there’s one thing I don’t understand and I’ve always wanted to ask you about it: You Germans won’t cross the road when the red light is on, even if there’s not a car in sight. I could never get my people to do that. And why should they?”

This might be a trivial little story, but the question behind it isn’t trivial: from where do orders, regulations, institutions derive their legitimacy and acceptance? In view of the upheaval and the calling into question of orders in this world – I only need to mention the dispute surrounding the South China Sea – awareness and debate of these kinds of fundamental and deep-seated cultural differences will become increasingly important.

And whoever is willing to engage in this debate will soon realise that an order that seems good to us – and now I’m not just talking about pedestrian crossings – will often not be perceived as such by others.

Speaking in Berlin recently, Achille Mbembe, a renowned political scientist from Cameroon, put it like this: “Your order is our disorder.”

An openness towards other perspectives, the willingness to understand and promote understanding is a crucial factor in foreign policy. This willingness to understand and promote understanding is, after all, one of the qualities that has given Germany an excellent reputation as a mediator in many conflicts.

Sometimes we are criticised for “understanding Russia”, “understanding Iran” – whatever fits at the time. I then have to ask myself what foreign policy is coming to if the desire to understand is perceived as an insult. Understanding doesn’t automatically mean agreeing with someone. But without understanding, we cannot promote understanding!

As I see it, this means that greater attention needs to be paid to regional studies, such as those conducted by the GIGA on Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, in science, research and practice. That is why we are in the process of launching the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin to expand and deepen knowledge of this important region.

Professor Narlikar, what you recently formulated as a tenet for the social sciences – a move away from western centricism to a true pluralism of methods and perspectives – applies in a similar way to foreign policy if our goal is to work towards reaching truly shared concepts of order.

∗∗∗

Anyway, enough social sciences – what does that mean specifically for German foreign policy? It almost makes me think of that old joke: Two social scientists get together. One of them has developed a political theory and outlines it. The other one listens, has a think and then says: “Hm, that sounds as if it works in practice – but does it work in theory?”

In practical foreign policy, work on tomorrow’s order cannot be separated from today’s acute conflict resolution. For it is in conflict resolution and crisis prevention that we can put what we like to call “effective multilateralism” into practice and prove its worth. Look at the range of partners:

•whether in the E3 plus 3 context on Iran,

•the Normandy format with France on Ukraine,

•in our current role as Chair of the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,

•or in the International Contact Group on Syria, that brutal conflict that has been going on for far too long. I don’t need to explain to you how crucial it is to have Iran and Saudi Arabia around the negotiating table as proxy powers wrestling for hegemony.

•And last but not least, consider the many facets of our engagement in the United Nations system: not only as one of the largest donors, but also as a contributor to the United Nations peace missions. I have just been to Mali with my French colleague, where we are currently engaged in arduous work to stabilise the country and implement the inter-Malian peace agreement under the auspices of the MINUSMA peace mission together with the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

∗∗∗

Effective multilateralism is thus proving its worth in very concrete terms in current crises. Yet, crisis management is not intended to be the focus of my address today, and believe me: I’m quite happy to take a break from all the conflicts ... I would like to look further afield: to the long-term challenges in a changing global order. I don’t primarily wish to talk about NATO or Russia. Rather, the upcoming powers in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Arab world, which are also the focus of the GIGA’s research, are moving into our field of view.

Perhaps it is appropriate that today we are sitting in this wonderful hall, which automatically draws our gaze outwards into the wider world. Just take a look at the walls, where you can see the impressive paintings of Hugo Vogel – depicting Hamburg’s proud history from Christianisation to industrialisation. But there is one constant that runs through all the pictures: the blue thread of the Elbe river. This river draws our eyes away from the square outside the City Hall overseas to the emerging economies.

For it is they, first and foremost China,

•who are increasingly calling into question regional balances of power and established rules – in the tensions surrounding the South China Sea, this issue is becoming ominously clear, an issue in which the validity of international law and its institutions are painfully put to the test,

•players who challenge international organisations and decision-making mechanisms,

•who demand reforms,

•and who establish new organisations based on their own concepts of order.

Germany is perceived as an “honest broker” in foreign policy, and we are therefore a desirable partner for these players, not only with regard to business and culture, but also in the creation of new elements of the global order.

I see this wherever I travel. Whether in China, India, Brazil or recently, in Mexico and Argentina. If, from time to time, it seems as if we are in a global competition where one country’s gain is another’s loss, that is too simplistic. There are many areas in which we can find joint solutions to conflicts and cooperate on building new structural elements.

Here are a few examples:

•Digital technology: In 2014, together with Brazil, we tabled a resolution in the United Nations on Internet privacy – an important basis for the ongoing search for order in this largely unregulated space.

•Migration: Together with Morocco we will assume the Chairmanship of the Global Forum on Migration and Development next year. Here, the focus will be on exchange between countries of origin, transit and destination. We intend to discuss how migration can be organised fairly in a way that benefits all stakeholders. For one thing is clear: this topic is going to become even more relevant. Development of sustainable solutions is therefore also the focus of the Berlin Dialogue, which I have launched with heads of international organisations.

•Climate protection: Driving forces behind the adoption of the climate protection agreement last year were the numerous small island states, which are literally in deep water in the face of rising sea levels. Germany is a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Welcoming Remarks
• Setting the Stage
• Breaches and Bridges — German Foreign Policy in Turbulent Times
• Inhalt
• Grußwort
• Den Weg bereiten
• Brüche und Brücken: Deutsche Außenpolitik in bewegten Zeiten
• Steinmeier