1st Edition

The Germans And Their Neighbors

By Dirk Verheyen, Christian Soe Copyright 1993

    For Germany's neighbors, perhaps more acutely than for observers elsewhere, the 1990 reunification of divided Germany has raised old memories and new concerns in public and scholarly discourse. The shape and influence of these issues are the subject of this unique, ambitious book. Organized into country-specific chapters, the book offers original, expert analyses of Germany's relations with seventeen European neighbors as well as with the United States. The contributors explore the essential concerns these nations have faced in their bilateral relations with Germany—past, present, and future. In their introduction, the editors trace both commonality and diversity in various national conceptions of the "German Question" and the ways in which these perceptions in turn generate shared as well as divergent national policy agendas vis-a-vis united Germany.

    Introduction -- Neighbors to the West -- France, Germany, and the New Europe -- The British and the Germans: From Enemies to Partners -- The Dutch and the Germans: Beyond Traumas and Trade -- Belgium and Germany: An Enigmatic Relationship -- Neighbors to the North -- Denmark and Germany: From Ambivalence to Affirmation? -- Norway and Germany: Changing Relations between Europe’s Periphery and Center -- Sweden and Germany: Forgetting the Past and Restoring the Future -- Finnish-German Relations and the Helsinki-Berlin-Moscow Geopolitical Triangle -- Neighbors to the East -- Moscow and the German Question -- Poland and Germany: From Foes to Friends? -- The Czechs and the Germans: A One-Thousand-Year Relationship -- Hungary and Germany: Two Actors in Search of a New Play -- Romania and Germany: An On-Again, Off-Again Relationship -- Neighbors to the South -- Yugoslavia and the Two Germanys -- Austria and Germany: A Not-So-Foreign Relationship -- Switzerland and Germany: An Ambivalent Relationship -- Italy and Germany: Historical Memory and the Impact of 1989-90 -- A Transatlantic Neighbor -- The United States and the German Question: Building a New European Order

    Biography

    Dirk Verheyan, Christian Søe