When it comes to defense spending, Germany has long been criticized as a free-rider, building its economic strength under the protection of the U.S. security umbrella. Throughout the post-Cold War period, Germany’s foreign policy strategy—known as Wandel durch Handel, or “change through trade”—sought to influence states like Russia and China through economic engagement.
With the economic interdependence of globalization turning into the “weaponization of everything,” followed by the return of interstate war to Europe, that approach was broadly derided as quintessentially naïve. Germans were accused of having been slow to recognize the threats confronting Europe and then underestimating them, instead clinging to a liberal global order that was crumbling before everyone’s eyes.
Admittedly, it took some time, but real change is now happening in Germany when it comes to public opinion, politics and policy. This, however, opens up a whole new set of challenges.