ABSTRACT

This chapter explains Germany's role in the breakup of Yugoslavia that stands out as the country's first major diplomatic initiative after unification. During the second half of 1991, the German government vigorously pushed its partners in the European Community for early recognition of Slovenian and Croatian independence. After the Gulf War, the second post-unification foreign policy issue in which the German government permitted itself to be driven by rather than to lead public opinion. The process of unification itself was the first instance in which German policymakers took the initiative in anticipation of a multilateral consensus. The German policy clearly went against the grain of European political integration, which still is a long-term German foreign policy goal of the highest priority. The breakup of Yugoslavia provides a real-life example of what is referred to in German security analyses as the "spillover-effect". This concept has replaced the Soviet threat to German territorial integrity as the main security concern of Germany.