ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes Germany's policies towards the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Focusing mostly on Germany's NPT policies after the end of the Cold War, it looks at both Germany's changing behavior towards the Treaty and German policies adapting to changes within the regime and the broader international environment. Relying on publicly available resources from the Federal Foreign Office, the chapter first assesses German policies within the NPT review cycle and then those policies that directly relate to the three NPT “pillars” of nonproliferation, disarmament, and peaceful uses. It concludes that Germany's changing role towards a model of “good citizen” is a direct product of the end of the bloc confrontation. Since then, German efforts to strengthen the NPT followed an incremental reformist agenda, which focused on implementation and met its limits the more contested discussions within the NPT got since the turn of the millennium. Despite continued efforts to overcome political rifts, German bridge-building failed more often than it succeeded.
