The Zeitenwende in German security policy. The Chancellor, coalition parties, and the Christian Democrats debate. The scope of change
The Zeitenwende in German security policy. The Chancellor, coalition parties, and the Christian Democrats debate. The scope of change

Summary/Abstract: Chancellor Scholz’s speech of 27 February 2022 in which he announced that his government would make fundamental changes to German security policy in the wake of Russian aggression against Ukraine should, in theory, translate into a more influential role for Germany in Europe. The implementation of the Zeitenwende (epochal change) is a test for German security policy in the allied context, but also requires the decision-making centre to create stable conditions domestically. It can be assumed that the effectiveness of the change depends on consensus in the experimental three-party coalition government and on securing the partial support of the Christian Democrats as well. A hypothesis can be put forward that the scope and scale of the undertaken turn in these two areas were determined not so much by expectations on the part of the US and other allies as by the domestic context, that is the limited ability of the decision-making centre to build broader supra-coalition support and to manage tensions. Theauthor’s aim is to clarify the ability of the decision-making centre to manage the tensions arising fromthe pressure of the Christian Democrat opposition and the widening divergence within the coalition between the supporters of adaptation (the Greens and the FDP) and its opponents – pro-military forcesceptics (the left wing of the SPD). The article, based on the literature of the subject, the press and Internet information, examines two issues, the questions of increased defence spending and arms supplies to Ukraine are analysed through the prism of relations in a tripartite set-up, the decision-making centre,the coalition parties, and the Christian Democrat opposition.

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