From 'civilian power' to 'civilized normal power': Re-unified Germany and international crisis management

The dissertation describes and explains the transformation in Germany's policy towards international military crisis management that occurred during the 1990s---a conversion from strict military abstinence to participation in line with other major European countries. Relying on culturalisrn as a theoretical framework the dissertation identifies competing domestic views on Germany's role in the world and on the legitimacy of the use of force. It shows how these domestic views molded Germany's change and defined the limits and possibilities of the new policy that emerged towards the turn of the century. Analyzing the political premises of this new policy, as well as the approach and style of German peace keepers, the dissertation argues that re-unified Germany developed a policy that from conception to implementation had a distinctly "civilized" cast. Germany became willing to deliver a military contribution, but only in participation with other Western democracies, and taking a broad and non-forceful approach, including social, economic, and humanitarian measures. The dissertation illustrates how a culturalist perspective affords a better understanding of both the process and outcome of Germany's change compared to an external structural theory such as realism. By capturing the peculiar and composite nature of post-war Germany's domestic security culture, it is possible to explain why Germany did not exploit her new favorable geostrategic position and European economic and demographic supremacy to realize her full independent military-political power potential.