Osnabrücker Jahrbuch Frieden und Wissenschaft XXI / 2014

This volume focuses on areas of German foreign policy activity. Germany conducts its foreign policy in many issue areas, countries and global regions. The foreign office has 227 diplomatic missions worldwide, including 153 embassies and 61 general consulates and consulates. How do international crises fit into this picture? How do differences arise that lead to conflicts, and often to violence, in international relations? If viable solutions to such conflicts are to be found, their material and non-material, i.e. economic, geographic, cultural and possibly even religious causes, must be scrutinised in as much detail as possible. According to a much-quoted political maxim, German foreign policy is value-oriented and interest-based. These two criteria can, however, also come into conflict with each other, for instance when values embodied in German fundamental rights or human rights are not congruent with economic, geopolitical or allied interests. For this reason, too, foreign policy initiatives are frequently unable to keep pace with the initial expectations that they were meant to serve. It appears that the limitations of German foreign policy frequently lie in the sovereignty, interests and values of other states. With contributions by Sebastian Bondzio, Jorn Ipsen, Navid Kermani, Hanna Pfeifer, Christoph Rass, Bernhard Rinke and Kilian Spandler.