Shepherd of Democracy: America and Germany in the Twentieth Century

(Hardback)

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Scholars on both sides of the Atlantic offer a broad perspective of the central themes in German-American relations in the 20th century and show how the current developments have evolved. This interpretive survey should help to fill a major gap in the literature covering the long-term relationships between Germany and the United States and demonstrate how liberal democratic values have been upheld. Policymakers concerned with US foreign policy and German and European relations should find this edited collection illuminating. This edited collection aims to describe the mixture of idealism with which American foreign policy has traditionally viewed republican government and peaceful international relations and the pragmatism involved in securing American interests after 1945 and supporting a prosperous German republic. At the same time, it deals with the extent to which German objectives have been consistent with American goals. The book begins with a discussion of the Kantian ideal of an international civil society and its place in the tradition of US foreign policy. The middle chapters deal with the evolution of that tradition from Wilsonian precepts after World War I to American tutelage in the establishment and protection of the Federal Republic. The final chapters confront Germany's place in Europe after 1989 and attempt to answer the question: Has American idealism been realistic

Author Bio

CARL C. HODGE is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Okanagan College in British Columbia. He is the author of a number of articles on European and German politics. CATHAL J. NOLAN is Associate Professor of History and Executive Director of the International History Institute at Boston University. His numberous books include the award-winning, four-volume Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations (Greenwood, 2002), Power and Responsibility in World Affairs (Praeger, 2004), Ethics and Statecraft (Praeger, 2004), Principled Diplomacy: Security and Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy (Greenwood, 1993), Shepherd of Democracy America and Germany in the 20th Century (Greenwood, 1992), and the award-winning Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775 (Greenwood, 1997). He also edits the Praeger series Humanistic Perspectives on International Relations, and co-edits the Praeger series International History.