Susan Neiman

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Neiman studied philosophy at Harvard University and Berlin's Free University. She taught philosophy at Yale and Tel Aviv universities. In her latest book, "Fremde Sehen Anders" ("Strangers See Things Differently"), due out in Germany on Aug. 24, Neiman argues that Germans might be oblivious to the fact that their country is already on the road to recovery.

DW-WORLD: How is Germany doing in your opinion?

Susan Neiman: I think it's doing much better than Germans think it is. From the outside, it looks like one of the most dynamic places in Europe. Berlin is an international magnet. Under this government, the country has flourished more than people have realized. It's broken, decisively, with the stigma under which Germany was standing for half a century. Not even economically it is as bad as people think it is. People complain about certain kinds of cuts in social services and economic problems, but the country is fundamentally sound in comparison with other places. You can have 9 percent economic growth, as China is experiencing, if you drop any concern for human beings and the environment.

What needs to happen in Germany to help speed up the country's recovery?

I think it's clear that all the industrialized nations still need to come up with concepts about unemployment in view of globalization. I don't think any of us have fully grasped what globalization means. But I think that again, what's remarkable is that Germans think much worse about themselves than anyone else. I think both the extreme left and members of some of the right have tried to benefit by painting a picture that things are terrible. They reflect, however, the mood of the people. You have a sort of mirroring effect. If people would stop being so pessimistic, a great deal would be accomplished. East and west Germans tend to expect the state to take care of everything. I think there is an expectation that the state should provide more than people expect in other countries. There is a sense that if anything goes wrong, one blames it on the government.

Schröder or Merkel? Who is your personal choice for chancellor? Why?

I'm generally happy with the way the current red-green government has proceeded. On the whole, they have done a good job and should continue to do so. I'm impressed by the ways in which, under the current government, Germany has taken large steps towards becoming a more cosmopolitan and less racist country. I am particularly impressed by the difference in their attititudes to the Iraq war, during which Schröder was willing to take a stand, while Merkel assured the Bush administration that the CDU would follow American policy, whatever it was. Schröder was sharply criticized for his position -- not least in Germany, where most people called him opportunistic -- but he turned out to be right. America needs

friends who are critical, not who blindly follow whatever very controversial policies happen to be the order of the day. Both Schröder and Merkel will have to continue painful economic reforms, and there the differences will be small; the significant differences between them concern foreign policy.

What do you like about Germany?

I like the growing cosmopolitanism, an interest in what people do and think all over the world. That's much stronger than in France, England, and the US. I like the sense of historical interest, I like the interest in preserving good parts of the past and the interest in dealing with bad parts of it. I like the intelligence and intensity of German public culture.

What do you dislike about Germany?

I dislike the tendency to complain, and to see things in mostly negative terms. I dislike a certain kind of formality that takes place in many relations.