31 December 2012
Abstract
The end of the Cold War changed Germany's political geography and increased its international clout. Germany's reunification and its easier access to the political and economic space of Central and Eastern Europe enhanced Germany’s overall power within the European Union. With its increasing economic strength and robust exporting capacity, it was poised to emerge as an even greater international actor in the global arena, although its strengths were markedly different from those of traditional great powers such as Russia and the United States. The new Germany's global capacity led to the redefinition of its external relations with many countries including Iran. This article attempts to analyze Germany's evolving geopolitical power dynamic and its implications for relations between the EU and Iran which in turn experienced a similar upsurge in potential opportunities with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regaining of access to Central Asia and the Caucasus which had been integral parts of the Persian Empire until the first quarter of the 19 century.
Keywords: geopolitical change in Germany's power, geo-economic power, culture of restraint, special relations between Iran and Germany
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