The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone

This article explores the growing perception, prompted by the eurozone crisis, of Germany as a hegemonic power in the European Union. The article explores the realignments in the power balance within the European Union (EU) by making an original application of the insights from the literature on hegemony. It reviews the evidence for Germany playing a hegemonic role, but then emphasizes three sets of constraints. First, German pre-eminence is largely confined to the economic sphere. Even in this area Germany has not acted fully in line with the role ascribed by hegemonic stability theory. Second, its pre-eminence in the EU encounters problems of international legitimacy. Third, growing constraints arising from German domestic politics further hamper playing the role of hegemon. In consequence, Germany is intrinsically a reluctant hegemon: one whose economic leadership is recognized but politically contested. The conclusion considers the significance of these findings on the EU's most important member state. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Germany as the EU's reluctant hegemon? Of economic strength and political constraints

This paper explores Germany’s centrality to the outcome of the eurozone crisis. It argues that the eurozone crisis has led Germany’s ordo-liberal principles to trump its other longstanding commitment – i.e. to European integration. These two principles are explored in order then to shed light on how they have played out during the crisis. German centrality has created high expectations for it to provide leadership. Exploring hegemony conceptually and in practice, it is argued that international legitimacy and increasing domestic constraints have limited a leadership role. Indeed, it is argued that it is the domestic political situation that explains why ordo-liberalism has trumped pro-Europeanism. Ordo-liberal emphasis on stability culture has provided a valuable strategic resource for securing German objectives within the eurozone while satisfying the requirements of domestic politics.

Germany and the Eurozone Crisis: Between Hegemony and Domestic Politics

(2004). Discourse, Ideas, and Epistemic Communities in European Security and Defence Policy. West European Politics: Vol. 27, Policy Change and Discourse in Europe, pp. 211-234.

Discourse, Ideas and Epistemic Communities in European Security and Defence Policy

Germany and the use of force: The Evolution of German Security Policy, 1990-2003

Germany's role in the European Union has been the subject of intense political speculation and academic debate. The key question is whether Germany has made, or is undergoing, a re-evaluation of the goals and means of European integration policy in the aftermath of unification. This article sheds new light on the debate by examining shifts in German political elites' normative understandings of Germany's role in European affairs. It uses a constructivist approach that challenges rationalist accounts of German Europapolitik and provides a more nuanced understanding of how German policy towards the EU is changing. The authors argue that the end of cold war bipolarity and German unification provided a window of opportunity for normative change and that a number of influentially situated domestic actors have purposefully sought to generate and reshape debate on German European policy norms. This is illustrated by three case studies that focus on Germany's strategic partnership with France; the shift in German security policy in the 1990s and its embedding in the EU's European security and defence policy; and the role and aims of the Lander in German EU policymaking. The authors conclude that German political elites are engaged in a process of ‘constructing normality’ that will have important implications for the future direction of the European integration process.

Germany in the European Union: Constructing Normality

(2002). Continental drift? Transatlantic relations in the twenty‐first century. Defence Studies: Vol. 2, Poland ‐ A New Power in Transatlantic Security, pp. 1-20.

Adrian Hyde-Price

Papers

Germany in the European Union: Constructing Normality

Continental drift? Transatlantic relations in the twenty‐first century