Publication details
Defence cooperation between Germany and the Visegrad countries: Brexit as a window of opportunity?
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union has already increased international expectations on Germany as regards its leading role in matters of security and defence in Europe. Under the ongoing “responsibility discourse”, Germany has expressed its willingness to assume greater international responsibilities and get more engaged in the management of multiple European and international crises. In our paper, we would like to focus on German defence cooperation with Central European countries, known as the Visegrad Four (V4), as natural partners for Germany due to the close economic, geographical, cultural, political and social ties. So far, the V4 has not really been an attractive platform for German defence cooperation with Central European countries and has shown only a limited potential even for its members. However, due to the expected course of the process of construction of European security architecture after Brexit and German role within this process, we argue that defence cooperation between Germany and the V4 countries will most likely intensify. Given the strict adherence of Germany to multilateralism and the need to build partnerships and shape coalitions, the V4 countries can turn out to be a useful partner of Germany, adding legitimacy to its leadership efforts. |
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