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Basic elements, economic determinants, and complementarities
Since the beginning of the 1970s German Arab economic relations diversified and widened to include nearly all aspects of economic relationships: trade, energy supply, tourism, industrial cooperation, technology transfer, technological research, vocational training, consulting services, direct investments, import and export of capital, banking, cooperation between central banks, development aid, and Politikdialog. Both sides experienced profound changes of different kinds which considerably affected their relations.
The basic elements that determined the relationship between Germany and the Arab countries can be summarized as follows: (1) consequences of World War II and the realities of interdependence; (2) the holocaust and German obligations vis a vis Israel; (3) energy policies on both sides and the German need of Arab oil; (4) structural adjustment policies in Germany as well as in Arab countries; (5) international competition in the fields of trade, investment, and technology; (6) international cooperation in the area of development aid; (7) cultivation of traditional friendship with Arabs, Turks, Persians, and other peoples in the Near and Middle East.
From the beginning of its postwar history, West Germany internalized the realities of interdependence. It accepted international control over its key heavy industries by the European Coal and Steel Community; and it became integrated in NATO and the EEC.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the division of Germany introduced elements of competition for recognition in the relationship of each of the two German states with the Middle East. Both tried to use trade and aid relations with Arab countries as a lever in the struggle over recognition of East Germany. The Ostpolitik of the Brandt-Scheel coalition government after 1969 cleared the way for cross-recognition. As a consequence, the rivalry between the two Germanys in the Middle East faded away. Elements of the East-West conflict, however, lingered in the patterns of economic interaction between the two Germanys and the Middle East.
After reunification, supranationalism has become a cornerstone of Germany's relations with the outside world. United Germany continued to pursue its national interests within and through the European Community and other networks of alliance ties.[1] This determinant is of special importance for the trade and energy-related policies of Germany with reference to the Middle East.
Because of the Holocaust a special relationship with...