Photo Gallery Germany's Soft Power
People around the world respect Germany, both for the country's economy and politics. But Berlin has long been reluctant to play a bigger role on the world stage. The country's economic role is undeniable.
Geo-politically, however, Berlin has been reluctant to take the lead. Foreign policy is hardly taught at German universities and, while the Bundeswehr is engaged in Afghanistan, its voice on foreign affairs is meek.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle have brought Germany back into its quiet role it played in the 1990s.
In the "Nation Brands Index" prepared by the American market research company GfK, which surveys more than 20,000 people in 20 countries about the image of various nations, Germany is currently in second place, behind the United States. This index is not some idle exercise, but is used as a decision-making tool by corporate strategists and other investors. But when Germans do acknowledge their current standing in the world, they always seem to be somewhat coy or even amused.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Germans have managed to demonstrate repeatedly that they are capable of producing economic miracles, which is precisely what reunification and the development of the former East Germany are. At the same time, Germany was able to dispel widely held fears of the return of a gloating major power in the middle of Europe.
There is no doubt that the German ambassador to the United Nations in New York occasionally has to introduce a politically correct, ineffectual resolution that -- on paper, at least -- is intended to protect children in war zones. But when the time comes to concretely prevent the massacre of children and adults in Libya, we abstain from voting and, to be on the safe side, withdraw our warships from the Mediterranean. Here, Germany's UN ambassador abstaining on the Libya vote in March 2011.
Germany has taken the lead when it comes to the euro crisis, but Merkel has displayed remarkably little vision. The country's emphasis on austerity, led by Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, has angered European allies.
German industry is admired the world over. But Germans themselves collectively seem to assume that they are not likeable and therefore must be unpopular. It is a problem that quickly becomes political.
