ABSTRACT
Relations between Germany and Britain have been close for over a century in the sense that each has regarded the other as important. The history of their culture suggests that Anglo-German relations can never be ordinary. Relations between countries are not always the same as relations between the regimes of those countries. There is a continuity about the former that can transcend inter-governmental tensions, and the severing of relations is caused exclusively by the latter. Postwar policy, whether the outcome of Britain acting together with its Allies or of Britain's own particular policy style, fits into one of three distinct paradigms: the punitive, the colonial-constructive, and the partnership paradigm. Not surprisingly, the first model was most in evidence during the period immediately following Germany's capitulation, the second appearing after statehood in 1948 until the early 1970s, and the third visible from the time Britain sought entry into the European Community until the present.
