VIEW FROM GERMANY - BETWEEN PRINCIPLE AND PRAGMATISM - SPD POST-COLD-WAR FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY

The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) has a strong opportunity to w in the October 1994 Bundestag elections and return to power. Rudolf Sc harping, SPD chairman and chancellor candidate, has brought in new lea dership and has set the party on a more moderate course, advocating cl ose transatlantic relations. The SPD still faces tensions between its internalionalist outlook and national interests. This was evident duri ng the debate over German military participation in out-of-area operat ions. At the November 1993 Wiesbaden party congress, Scharping and the party moderates succeeded in maintaining the SPD's endorsement of NAT O. Generally speaking, the party platform is ''more restrictive on the use of force and more oriented toward global responsibility (as oppos ed to national interest) than an SPD government would be.'' In the fin al analysis, German foreign policy is unlikely to differ greatly from its present form.