Bundeswehr und deutsche Gesellschaft: Die Berliner Republik zwischen Militarisierung und Normalisierung

Abstract

The chapter intervenes in current public debates about German security policy. Many observers in the media have argued that the Russian invasion has triggered a revolution in German military affairs, de facto putting an end to German pacifism. The chapter takes issue with this argument. It draws on public opinion polls and prior research of parliamentary debates in the German Bundestag to show that neither German foreign policy elites nor the German public could ever aptly be described as pacifist in a strict sense; neither elites nor the general public as a whole were ever fundamentally opposed to the military. And while German society could (mostly) be adequately described as antimilitarist (reluctant to get militarily involved abroad), since the 1990s there has been a significant shift among foreign policy elites towards increased support for military operations outside the NATO area. Even public opinion, commonly seen as sceptical of military involvement, is much more differentiated than commonly assumed, in particular among the media. Thus, while the German government has only haltingly and somewhat hesitantly expanded its military support for Ukraine, this is does not appear to be primarily a result of a lack of public support.