| Summary/Abstract |
Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its attempts to destabilise Ukraine resemble traditional geopolitics and have prompted references to a ‘new Cold War’, but this comparison overlooks the transformation in the nature of international affairs brought about by globalisation, and its implications for Berlin’s relationship with other Western capitals, as well as Moscow. We are in an era of commercial realism, and Germany is the kind of prototypical geoeconomic power that challenges the old type of military-based power embodied by the United States and Russia. Moscow’s use of, and threat to use, military force in Ukraine are only part of the opening phase in a much longer game, one in which economic interdependence will be decisive.
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