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On Defense, France Bites the Bullet, But Avoids Strategic Insolvency May 7, 2013
Iceland’s Recovery Saga Presents Opportunities for Brussels, Washington—and Beijing May 6, 2013
Which Way Forward for Europe’s Hybrid Regimes? May 2, 2013
The Arab Revolts and the Liberal Order May 2, 2013
Events
GMF celebrates its 40 year history and Founder and Chairman, Dr. Guido Goldman at Gala Dinner May 09, 2013 / Washington, DCGMF held a celebratory gala dinner at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, Wednesday May 8.
In this podcast, GMF Vice President of Programs Ivan Vejvoda discusses last month's historic agreement to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
Anchor Elaine Reyes speaks with Andrew Small, Transatlantic Fellow of the Asia Program for the German Marshall Fund, about Beijing's potential role in brokering peace between Israel and Palestine
The Self-Chained Republic
January 01, 2010 / Constanze Stelzenmueller
Internationale Politik
German security policy, 20 years after the fall of the Wall: less than necessary, less than possible. A polemic in five theses and recommendations
The lonely decision by a German colonel in Kunduz to call in a NATO airstrike on Taliban forces who had hijacked a pair of fuel trucks may yet become a maturity test for Germany's political culture, twenty years after the fall of the Wall. A specially created investigative committee in the German federal legislature will now examine who was responsible for the many weaknesses and flaws apparent in the incident itself, as well as in its handling. But it is unlikely to examine the fundamental issues at the heart of German security policy: Does Germany even have a security policy which deserves that name? Does it have a strategy? How effective are the actors, institutions and instruments of German security policy?
Thesis #1: German security policy is still not fully sovereign - Recommendation: Germany's political leadership must actively set policy; this requires intellectual energy, a will to lead, a sense of responsibility and courage.
Thesis #2: Germany has no security strategy - Recommendation: Germany should follow the example of the U.S., UK or France and produce a written government strategy document in regular intervals.
Thesis #3: Germany's security community and institutions are underdeveloped - Recommendation: Germany must do more to develop its security community; and it should establish a national security council at the Chancellery.
Thesis #4: Germany's value as an ally is based on our will to share risk - Recommendation: Germany should completely review its alliance strategies, and take on a greater share of military and political burdens.
Thesis #5: The civilian and military instruments of Germany's security policy are inadequate, even as measured by its own ambition - Recommendation: Germany should establish a commission to review and reform its civilian and military security instruments.
The above is a summary, for the entire article in German, please download the file.
