The Ukraine crisis has highlighted the limitations of Germany’s ‘more active’ foreign policy approach

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced earlier this year that Germany would be pursuing a more active approach to foreign policy issues. Julia Himmrich writes that while this was an important break from the country’s reluctance to become involved in foreign conflicts since the end of the Second World War, the on-going Ukraine crisis has revealed the difficulties in putting such an approach into practice. She notes that there have been substantial divisions within Germany over the country’s policy on Ukraine and Russia, including within the governing grand coalition.