The tenth Valdai Paper «Europe’s Twin Crises: The Logic and Tragedy of Contemporary German Power» explores the central role of Germany in the context of the European Union crises. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, problems of uneven development in Western Europe significantly arouse.
On the one hand Germany is not ready to exercise “benevolent hegemony” role, on the other is trying to solve its problems at the expense of the other countries, imposing austerity on the rest of the Eurozone. The imploding monetary union is the subject of the first half of the paper. In the second part author describes the Russian-German relationships amidst the Ukrainian crisis and the precedence of the Atlanticism. Notwithstanding its significant energy dependence on Russia, the Germany’s general line in foreign policy is oriented to the West.
The paper is written by Alan W. Cafruny , Professor of International Affairs on the faculty of Government, Hamilton College (USA). He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles, including «Europe at Bay: In the Shadow of US Hegemony» (co-authored with Magnus Ryner) and forthcoming «From the Golden Age to the Ordoliberal Iron Cage: the Political Economy of the European Union» (also co-authored with Magnus Ryner).
