Reordering German identity: memory sites and foreign policy

Constructivist IR scholars posit that identity influences foreign policy, noting how the experience in and collective memory of the Holocaust and World War II created widely accepted limits to and norms for German foreign policy. Constructivists assume that collective memory is slow to change, that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:German studies review 2007-05, Vol.XXX (2), p.371-390
Main Authors: Hampton, Mary N, Peifer, Douglas C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Area studies
Collective memory
European studies
Foreign policy
Germany
Identity
Political history
Social construction
Social history
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Summary:Constructivist IR scholars posit that identity influences foreign policy, noting how the experience in and collective memory of the Holocaust and World War II created widely accepted limits to and norms for German foreign policy. Constructivists assume that collective memory is slow to change, that national identity is largely stable, and that the nexus between identity and policy is characterized by continuity rather than change. Pierre Nora's conception of national identity as a pluralistic constellation of interactive memory sites suggests an alternative hypothesis: collective memory and identity do not preclude rapid shifts in foreign policy but may well enable them. Reprinted by permission of the German Studies Review
ISSN:0149-7952