Caught between Kosovo and Iraq: Understanding Germany’s abstention on Libya

The German decision to abstain from voting on the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya puzzled many observers and was heavily criticized by some. The German government has been accused of irresponsible and inconsistent behaviour, abandoning Western consensus, and of having ‘failed the test’ of leadership. Such criticism has been voiced abroad (mainly from Western countries supporting the resolution) and domestically (by, for instance, Klaus Naumann and Joschka Fischer). Accompanied by an air of moral superiority and/or a sense of embarrassment, the critics tend to explain the German decision with a misplaced pacifist reflex, poor strategic thinking and a weak and clumsy Foreign Minister. And, of course, with a short-sighted and an inward-looking government concerned mainly about public opinion (the parties of the governing coalition had been trailing in polls for state elections which took place a week after the UN vote).