In the
immediate aftermath of the Cold War most Western European countries either
suspended or ended universal conscription. Due to the completely changed
security environment on the continent the same would have made sense for
Germany. Nevertheless the country held on to universal conscription even though
its army no longer needed the massive numbers of conscripts. The two main
parties, as well as a broad majority of the electorate supported the
continuation of the compulsory military service. On the one hand, universal
conscription guaranteed that a constant flow of young men from all social
backgrounds were brought into the Bundeswehr,
thus providing the army with a pool of potential recruits for professional
careers and securing that the army was deeply integrated into society. On the
other hand, the alternative civilian service, which had outgrown the military
service number-wise in recent years, provided the country's health system with
approx. 80,000 cheap labour each year. The suspension of universal conscription
and its cognate civilian service will therefore bring about new challenges for
the Bundeswehr, and indeed German
society as a whole.
As far as
Germany's ability to contribute to out-of-area mission is concerned, the
implications of the suspension of the compulsory military service remain yet to
be seen. The suspension itself had been justified as potentially cost saving,
enabling the Bundeswehr to use scant
resources more efficiently. For the moment it seems questionable if the
suspension of the service alone will save any money at all as costs for
recruitment campaigns etc will undoubtedly rise as a consequence. If the "new" Bundeswehr will be in a position to
contribute even more to missions abroad depends on the outcome of the ongoing,
larger re-structuring process of the army. The suspension is so far only a
first step pointing to the future. It implicitly acknowledges that territorial
defence, which has always been regarded as the only legitimate justification
for the compulsory service, is no longer seen as a realistic threat scenario.
The latest German White Paper dating from 2006 had already moved beyond that
dogma of territorial defence and had described international conflict
prevention and crises management as the most likely future tasks of the army.
Currently, a commission is working on further proposals to make the Bundeswehr fit for these 21st-century
challenges. Lastly, the internationally often criticised "culture of restraint"
is unlikely to change in short- to mid-term future.
Stephan Vormann is working on a PhD on German
Foreign and Security Policy in the 1990s.
Download: Bundeswehr after Conscription: From Territorial Defence to Global Intervention?
- 8
