Germany in European Diplomacy: Minilateralism as a Tool for Leadership

While Germany is a proponent of a strong Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union (EU), Berlin has been part of a number of minilateral diplomatic initiatives in recent decades which seemingly side-lined EU diplomatic actors. This article illustrates how Germany uses minilateral formats as a means to exercise leadership in international diplomacy. The German engagement in minilateral diplomatic initiatives coincides with an increased focus on its structural – mostly economic – power. Nevertheless, Germany's institutional power – partly based on an extensive network between government and bureaucratic actors – remained crucial in order to create consensus and acceptance for the minilateral diplomacy within the EU. Hence, minilateral diplomatic initiatives allow Germany to reconcile its long-standing preference for a strong CFSP with the growing expectations to engage more actively in international relations. Three case studies on the Western Balkan Contact Group, the Iran nuclear neg...