To many of its friends and neighbours, though, the paragon is a disappointment. Its sharp-elbowed behaviour during the near-collapse of the euro earlier this year heightened concerns about Germany’s role in the world that have been stirring ever since unification 20 years ago. A recent essay published by Bruegel, a Brussels think-tank, explains "why Germany fell out of love with Europe". Another, from the European Council on Foreign Relations, alleges that Germany is "going global alone". Jurgen Habermas, Germany’s most distinguished living philosopher, accuses his country of pursuing an "inward-looking national policy". "How can you not ask Germany questions about its vision of the future of Europe" wonders Jacques Delors, who was president of the European Commission when the Berlin Wall fell. Even a pacific and prosperous Germany causes international angst.
The German question never dies. Instead, like a flu virus, it mutates. Even today’s mild strain causes aches and pains, which afflict different regions in different ways. America’s symptoms are mild. Central Europe seems to have acquired immunity. After unification 85% of Poles looked upon Germany as a threat, recalls Eugeniusz Smolar of the Centre for International Relations in Warsaw. Now just a fifth do. It is among Germany’s long-standing west and south European partners that the German question feels debilitating, and where a dangerous flare-up still seems a possibility. Germany’s answer to the question matters not only to them. It will shape Europe, and therefore the world.
Germans have not forgotten that their country was the author of the horrors of the 1930s and 1940s, but, says Renate Kocher of Allensbach, a polling firm, they want to "draw a line under the past". That does not mean ignoring its lessons or neglecting to teach them to the next generation. A new exhibition on "Hitler and the Germans" at the German Historical Museum in Berlin is drawing blockbuster crowds. But Germans are no longer so ready to be put on the moral defensive or to view the Nazi era as the defining episode of their past. Even non-Germans seem willing to move on. Recent books like "Germania" and "The German Genius" suggest that English-language publishing may be entering a post-swastika phase. Germany still atones but now also preaches, usually on the evils of debt, the importance of nurturing industry and the superiority of long-term thinking in enterprise. Others are disposed to listen. "Everyone orients himself towards Germany," says John Kornblum, a former American ambassador.
The "XL upswing" of Germany out of the global recession is due to all the following EXCEPT ______.
A.a booming export
B.a falling unemployment rate
C.a stable government
D.a protest against a huge new railway project
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