The Challenge of Diversity: Case Studies of Germany’s Partnerships with Emerging Powers

In this chapter, case studies are presented concerning Germany’s cooperation with a selected group of emerging powers. Case study analysis enables the verification of German concepts in practice by considering the coexistence of the two dimensions outlined in the previous chapter: economic and order-shaping. For analysis purposes, the target group is divided into five subsets, comprising countries exhibiting one or several common characteristics: (1) China; (2) Brazil, India, and South Africa; (3) Mexico and Vietnam; (4) Indonesia and Nigeria; and (5) Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The structure of each case study consists of three parts: the first provides a general characterisation of Germany’s relations with the selected countries, considering the level of formality and rank of the partnership; the second presents a description and evaluation of Germany’s cooperation with those partners on the economic level, based on an analysis of trade and investment relations; and the third focuses on the order-shaping dimension—the potential of the analysed states as partners for Germany in shaping the global order and collaborating on issues of global governance (particularly global trade, climate policy, security and disarmament, and development cooperation). The case study analysis facilitates a comparison of the target group countries from the perspective of Germany’s strategic objectives. It also assesses to what extent, depending on the nature of each individual partner, the implementation of Germany’s dual policy (economic and order-shaping) was feasible.