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Increasing Transatlantic Alienation

Chrysler_Building_by_David_Shankbone_Retouched_Overand Bonanza no more: study illustrates shifting images and alliances

America was the idol and champion of freedom, human rights, entrepreneurship and the upward mobility of society in Germany. However, for German decision makers, this is becoming more and more a description of the past. A qualitative study carried out over the past five years shows a steady decline of positive evaluations of the United States – long before the news about NSA activities in Europe broke. About one hundred decision makers in both countries were interviewed – many of whom had lived in the other country. Interviews lasted between one and three hours and covered personal and professional biographies, as well as the bilateral relationship of their two countries. Participants in the survey hold high positions in both administrations, are members of parliament, high ranking military officers, heads of think tanks and experts from History and International Relations departments of universities, CEOs of private companies and also influential media personalities. All of them are movers and shakers in the field of German-American relations.

Criticizing policies

The most stunning result of this ongoing study is the decline of America’s image and role model status among German elites. A genuine gap separates younger and older German decision makers in their attitudes and opinions. Most of those over 50 years of age hold on to an overall positive image of the United States. Younger members of the German foreign policy elite, in contrast, point to U.S. foreign policy and specifically to the Iraq War, to Guantanamo and the perceived excesses of the Patriot Act. They also consider the economic model of the U.S. as failed and unjust, causing a split society. One younger German expert says: “I think that the ideal of the American dream has come apart in Germany. Germans no longer believe that life is better in the U.S. and that as an individual you have all the chances and opportunities to make it to the top – it is gone.”
The positive aspects of life in America are individual freedom, its enterprise opportunities, and the examples of culture and music the country offers. The positive image surge the U.S. received after Barack Obama became president was followed by wider disappointment: Guantanamo was not closed and – except rhetorically – policies didn’t seem to change much. Since the older generation will soon leave the political stage, and a much more critical generation is about to take over responsibilities, the importance of this generational gap is tremendous. A young German explains: “ Since Guantanamo, the Americans have wasted their credit in being a champion for human rights, they lost their leadership as a nation in human rights.”
American participants of the survey state that while Germany as a country certainly cannot be a role model for Americans, specific aspects of German culture and the political system can. They look at the German dual track vocational training system, the health care system, and the successful federal employment policies. Also the environmental and renewable energy policies are considered ahead of those in the U.S. This holds true though more for Democrats than for Republicans. Among the latter, Germany’s conservative fiscal stance at home and in Europe is appreciated. A senior expert in a conservative think tank asserts: “We could learn and should learn from Germany about how you take care of your budgets – there is a fiscal discipline and sense of responsibility that also other European countries could learn from.”
The overall strategic outlook on world affairs differs enormously between Americans and Germans. Germans consider themselves as being much closer to the U.S. than Americans. Americans do not appear to reciprocate. Germans perceive the U.S. as their special “buddy and elder brother” in a positive way. Americans tend to see a “Germany embedded in Europe” and they expose a more ‘realist’ approach to bilateral foreign policy relations.

American realism versus German ‘emotionalism’3077244724_1aaef8599b_o_Arne List

Many American interviewees said that as long as there are no serious problems, Germany is not on the radar of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. In the present European sovereign debt crisis, Germany is expected to both safeguard the Euro and strengthen the European project. Americans tend to deal rather pragmatically with the seemingly volatile, more pacifist and independent German understanding of alliance partnership (read Iraq, Libya) since German unification. A senior U.S. diplomat says about his work with Germany during the George W. Bush Administration: “We had a disappointment over time… I find it harder and harder to do professional diplomatic work with Germany.” And another former senior member of a U.S. administration: “Germany just does not carry its weight… Germany is not doing anything of consequence. Germans are not committed to fight. The restrictions on German troops in Afghanistan are such that it is not making a significant contribution, also not financially.”
Energy security and sustainability have become important topics. Germans view the U.S. as an enormous problem for climate change prevention due to energy consumption patterns and public discourse in the U.S. All of these differences can even be visualized in a neuro-semantic map – USemantics – of the language used in the interviews. The emotional core of the language used by German interviewees can be described as “emotional cooperation”. The American core, however, is more on the practical side of economics and discipline, which can be interpreted as “realist or performance based thinking”.

Decline of U.S. American soft power

The survey suggests that American soft power vis-à-vis Germany is in an unprecedented decline. Soft power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get the outcomes you want without using or threatening force and without payment. The core problem is that America is not just seen as less attractive. Rather, key elements and features of the American political system and culture have turned negative in the perception of German elites.
Many of the interviewees on both sides talk about the “Transatlantic Narrative”. The general opinion is that the narrative has shifted – though a distinct new essence of partnership has yet to transpire. The security based Cold War story gradually seems to have muted into an untold tale of “investment”-marriage. The participants in the survey convey two uncomfortable messages: Americans say that Germans need to finally live up to their economic power and responsibilities. Americans need to admit that foreign policy towards Europe and Germany also requires living up to their image. America working on her soft power – at home and abroad – therefore is not about re-romanticizing the relationship. It is about a long neglected central field of international and bilateral relations, complementing diplomacy and security policies.

Felix Philipp Lutz is an Associate with the Heidelberg Center for American Studies and CEO of Sophisticated Knowledge, a Boston and Berlin based think tank

Photo Credit: Arne List, David Shankbone

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