Wilson Center Experts
Dieter Dettke
I am currently a Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and joined the German Marshal Fund on February 15, 2006. I served as U.S. Representative and Executive Director of the Washington Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation from 1985 to January 31, 2006. In that capacity I conceptualized and managed some 50 or more public programs (seminars, workshops and international conferences) on a broad variety of public policy, economic, social and cultural issues as part of an in-depth transatlantic dialogue. I also authored and edited a German news service with 15 or more editions annually and served as general editor of the book series "International Political Currents" with five volumes on major global issues including globalization, a global civil society, multiculturalism, university reform and the Spirit of the Berlin Republic, a publication on Germany's role in Europe and the world after unification. My activities included frequent speaking engagements both in Europe and the United States on transatlantic relations, German politics and European political and economic issues and I testified in Congress on the implications of German unification for the United States and U.S.-European relations. Invited on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer several times I commented on Missile Defense and German-American relations and also appeared on several C-Span TV-programs and radio and TV broadcasts of the Voice of America as well as German, Swiss and British TV and radio stations. Since 2002 I have taught and team-taught a course on "The Politics of European Security" at Georgetown University's Security Studies Program. From 1974 to 1984 I served as Political Counselor and Foreign Policy and International Security Advisor of the SPD Parliamentary Group of the German Parliament (Bundestag) where I coordinated all foreign, security and defense related issues on the agenda of the German Bundestag and the Committees for Foreign Affairs, Defense, German-German Relations, Development Policy and European Affairs. In 1982 I advised the State Minister of the German Foreign Office on European integration, international security and German foreign policy and as Staff Director of the Office of State Minister also served as liaison to the German Bundestag. I began my professional career as Research Associate of the German Council on Foreign Relations in 1969 where I initiated and participated in several research projects focusing on European-American relations, security and defense policy, German foreign and security policy and European integration. I studied Political Science and Law at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin (Germany) and Strasbourg (France) and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1967/68.
Education
Dr.Phil., Diplompolitologe
Subjects
European Union,Germany,NATO
Experience
- U.S. Representative and Executive Director of the Washington Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
- Political Counselor and Foreign Policy and International Security Advisor of the SPD Parliamentary Group of the German Parliament (Bundestag)
- Staff Director, Office of the State Minister of the German Foreign Office
- Research Associate of the German Council on Foreign Relations
Expertise
German foreign and domestic policy; economic and security issues; European integration and NATO
Project Summary
The purpose of the research proposal is to examine the evolution of Germany's foreign and security policy after unification, particularly the markedly more national German exceptionalism based on the civilian power paradigm during the Iraq crisis. As a result the three basic components of German foreign and security policy - European integration, transatlantic partnership and multilateral cooperation - seem to face an uncertain future. Focusing on the issue of how Germany has dealt with the international crises and conflicts during the 1990's and the first years of the 21st century the project will try to contribute to the emerging debate about Germany's grand strategy and her role as a major power in Europe and as a player on the world stage.
Major Publications
- The Spirit of the Berlin Republic, editor (New York: Berghahn Books, 2003)
- The Challenge of Globalization for Germany's Social Democracy: A Policy Agenda for the Twenty-First Century, editor (New York: Berghahn Books, 1998)
- Allianz im Wandel. Amerikanisch-Europaeische Sicherheitsbeziehungen im Zeichen des Bilateralismus der Supermaechte. Frankfurt am Main: Metzner 1976 (Author)
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