Opportunity or Obligation? Redefining Germany's Military Role Outside of NATO

Abstract

For decades, deployment of the German Bundeswehr beyond the NATO Treaty area has been officially regarded as unconstitutional, a position that also reflected a broad ambivalence in postwar Germany about the use of military power. While this attitude remains largely unchanged, Bonn's leaders have recently begun discussing a less restrictive policy on out-of-area commitments. They want united Germany to be seen as a fully sovereign international actor, willing to fulfill its commitments as a member of the United Nations, NATO, and the European Community, and able to help enforce international law or support humanitarian missions. Yet the deep aversion to policies based on military power has hindered development of a broad consensus in favor of any step beyond participation in UN peacekeeping operations. German politicians feel caught between what they regard as the expectations of the world community and their own country's "culture of caution."