Americans say US-German relations on right path; Germans say 'nein' - News - Stripes
During the Cold War the U.S. and Germany had a shared perspective of the world: its global presence, but when the U.S. does this, Germany feels threatened. Older Americans (77%) have more faith in Germany than younger ones do (66%) . Americans ages 18 to 29 (39%) to express such strong confidence in the “ special relationship. Spirit of 'Forty-Eighters': Germany eyes a special relationship with US While Britain's strategic importance for the US had fallen with its defence behind one of America's most famous landmarks did not speak English until.
The survey was conducted in association with the Bertelsmann Foundation. The Role of History in the U. In the eyes of Americans, the second-most memorable event in modern U. Other moments in postwar relations hardly register: For Germans, the most important event in bilateral relations over the past 75 years has been the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Despite their disagreements at the time over the Iraq War and U. National Security Agency spying, Americans and Germans view each other as reliable allies. But Germans are slightly more circumspect than Americans about the alliance. But Americans are more likely to see Britain as a reliable ally: However, there are some partisan divisions in intensity over France: The Franco-German relationship — which endured three wars between and but has since been the driving force behind European integration — is today judged by the German public to be strong.
Germany and the United States: Reliable Allies
Despite their strong faith in France, there are some significant demographic differences in how Germans judge their neighbor. Relations between countries are often judged through the prism of national leadership.
And Germans are far more likely than Americans to approve of how both U. Germany and the World In recent years, there has been much discussion among foreign policy elites and pundits about resurgent American isolationism and German reluctance to take on greater global responsibilities. The public appetite to engage with the rest of the world can wax and wane over time depending on circumstances.
But by one broad measure — public willingness to assume greater international obligations — Germans and Americans see eye-to-eye: They would prefer to focus on domestic tasks. Half of both the German and American public say their country should deal with its own problems and let other countries deal with their own challenges.U.S.-Germany relationship in jeopardy?
In particular, it is younger Germans and Americans who are more inward looking than their older counterparts. This stands in sharp contrast with the attitudes of their older countrymen: There is no significant difference in attitudes on this issue between high- and low-income Americans. German reticence about taking on more international burdens can be seen in public attitudes toward greater sharing of the global security burden.
Notably, there is no partisan difference on this issue in Germany: Americans say they would welcome Germany taking on more strategic responsibilities.
Its economy and military dwarf all others. This makes it a symmetrical power, one that has the added weapon of cultural influence. During the 20th century, the United States was engaged in multidimensional conflicts with peer powers or their client statesand it is in these conflicts that its power was forged. Beneficial though it may be, power by itself cannot create a coherent national strategy for its use. They saw the Soviet Union as a threat that must be confronted.
Since then, the United States and Germany have developed radically different perspectives.
Germany–United States relations - Wikipedia
Germany sees Europe as the fulcrum of its existence. The United States sees Europe as just one of many places in which it has interests. It gave the United States a similar opportunity, but Washington has struggled to divorce its powerful institutions and political culture from the Cold War climate in which they were formed. From the German point of view, the U. Indeed, there is a crisis in Washington about this very issue. Another faction, taking its plays from the 20th-century playbook, sees the United States actively engaged in all manner of global responsibilities.
The former wants to curb the kind of engagement that typified the second half of the s. The latter wants to continue it. This gives Berlin a complex view of the United States. On the one hand, the German government wants the United States to maintain its role in global affairs.
On the other hand, it does not want to be drawn into anything peripheral to its economic interests. The United States therefore sees Germany as a historical ally that has become irrelevant to the broader interests of the United States.