Von der "Verteidigungsarmee" zur "Armee im Einsatz". Die Debatte um Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr 1973-2010
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Date
2024-06-12
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Abstract
Based on the debate surrounding the Bundeswehr's foreign missions from 1973 to 2010, this dissertation examines how the security policy paradigm of the Federal Republic of Germany has shifted from pure national defense to military missions worldwide. It explores how the understanding of security that had been established since the mid-1970s has changed and expanded, and how the armed forces have been assigned a new role and significance.
With the establishment of the Bundeswehr and the re-establishment of armed forces on the territory of the Federal Republic in 1955, two objectives were primarily enshrined under the keywords of security and armed forces: the defense of the country's borders and the protection of the NATO alliance territory. This foreign and security policy framework not only had a decisive influence on West Germany's integration into the West and thus also on the military restructuring of the Federal Republic, but was also the result of two political and historical circumstances. On the one hand, the role and remit of the Bundeswehr emerged from the escalating confrontation between the West and the Soviet Union in the first post-war decade; on the other hand, the geographically limited defense mandate was derived from the horrors of the Second World War. Absolute restraint in the use of military means, and in particular German soldiers, became the foreign policy maxim of the Federal Republic. As a result, in the first decade after rearmament, the participation of Bundeswehr soldiers in international operations was limited exclusively to humanitarian and logistical aid measures. For example, Bundeswehr soldiers provided logistical support during international famine and earthquake disasters. However, when the Federal Republic joined the United Nations in 1973, a disagreement arose among political leaders concerning Germany's role in the United Nations and the participation of the Bundeswehr in international UN missions, including from a broader perspective. The resulting debate began at the interministerial level and spread from there in the following years. At its core first was the question of whether the legal provisions of the Basic Law offered sufficient scope for further interpretations and explanations Based on this, and with the emergence of the out-of-area controversy in the early 1980s, a fundamental debate began that, in its depth and scope, continues to preoccupy the country to this day. In a longitudinal study of contemporary history from the 1970s to the recent past, this work examines this protracted debate, using case studies from seven phases to examine the influence of political and media actors in the debate on the pros and cons of extending the deployment of German soldiers beyond the pure defense of the country and its allies, and tracing the controversial transformation of the security policy paradigm until the resignation of Horst Köhler in 2010.
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Issued: 2024-06-12
Faculty
FB06:Geschichte und Kulturwissenschaft
Language
de
Keywords
SicherheitDebatteAuslandseinsätzeBundesrepublikBundeswehrPolitikMilitärVersicherheitlichungZeitgeschichteSicherheitsgeschichteSicherheitsverständnisHistorische SicherheitsforschungMedien
DFG-subjects
102-03 Neuere und Neueste Geschichte (einschl. Europäische Geschichte der Neuzeit und Außereuropäische Geschichte)
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Chaouali, Marc: Von der "Verteidigungsarmee" zur "Armee im Einsatz". Die Debatte um Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr 1973-2010. : 2024-06-12.
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Except where otherwised noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 3.0 Germany