ABSTRACT
The momentous events of 1989 and the unification of Germany recast the long-standing debate about Germany's role in a changing Europe. The optimists are the majority, but, for understandable reasons, both voices are preoccupied by the legacy of Auschwitz. Pessimists on the left worry that the Federal Republic's democratic foundations are not really democratic. There is truth in both optimistic and pessimistic claims. Optimistic liberals and pessimistic conservatives, though from opposite vantage points, all see democratic institutions as mitigating power. Yet, the power already exercised by a united Germany in Europe and beyond cannot be underestimated. In power in the 1970s, social democracy successfully expanded the state sector, introduced educational reforms, and spawned a general liberalization of West German public life. Finally, the German left harbors a fundamental mistrust of power and leadership as a consequence of the Nazi past.
