Abstract
The West German debate on European security in the 1980s takes place at several levels; within the government, between the political parties, between military and scientific experts, and in the mass media. This breadth is a relatively new phenomenon. For a long time questions of international security were the preserve of military experts. Among the causes of this wider interest was the debate on the modernisation of INF weapons, which began with NATO’s double track decision of 1979 and led to the emergence of a new peace movement. The following study concentrates on the role of the political parties and their representatives in government and parliament. This is because the parties play a central role in the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, Sicherheit als soziologisches und sozialpolitisches Problem, 2nd edn (Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke, 1973) 32.
Daniel Frei, Sicherheit. Grundfragen der Weltpolitik (Stuttgart, Berlin, Köln and Mainz: Kohlhammer, 1977) 13ff.
See Klaus Arzberger et al., Der Bürger. Bedürfnisse, Einstellungen, Verhalten. Sozialwissenschaftliche Studien zur Stadt und Regionalpolitik, Bd. 14 (Königstein/Ts, 1979);
Manfred Murck, Soziologie der Öffentlichen Sicherheit (Frankfurt/M., New York: Campus Verlag, 1980).
See Berthold Meyer, Der Bürger und seine Sicherheit (Frankfurt/M., New York: Campus Verlag, 1983) 160ff.
See Dieter S. Lutz, ‘Sicherheit ist “gemeinsame Sicherheit”. Zur Idee und Entstehung einer neuen sicherheitspolitischen Konzeption’, Mediatus, 7 (1987) 3.
See Egon Bahr, ‘Gemeinsame Sicherheit’, Vierteljahresschrift für Sicherheit und Frieden (S+F), vol. 3 (April 1985) 200.
See the more detailed report on this debate prior to 1986, in Berthold Meyer, ‘Die Parteien in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und die sicherheitspolitische Zusammenarbeit in Westeuropa’, HSFK Report (1987/2) (Frankfurt/M., 1987); for the whole complex of concepts and problems of West-Europeanisation see also Lothar Brock and Mathias Jopp (eds), Sicherheitspolitische Zusammenarbeit und Kooperation der Rustungswirtschaft in Westeuropa (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 1986).
Oskar Lafontaine had claimed this in his book Angst vor den Freunden. Die Atomwaffenstrategie zerstört die Bündnisse (Hamburg: Rowohlt-Spiegel Verlag, 1983) 43. But some days after the elections for the Bundestag in January 1987 he changed his mind, see Frankfurter Rundschau, 6 February 1987.
See Helmut Schmidt, ‘Deutsch-französische Zusammenarbeit in der Sicherheitspolitik’, Europa-Archiv, 11 (1987) 303ff; Schmidt’s initiative received a favourable response from the former French prime minister Fabius, see Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 19 June 1987.
See Volker Boge et al., ‘Europäisierung der Sicherheitspolitik als Antwort auf die “Krise der NATO”’, Die Grünen (ed.), Euromilitarismus. Zur Bedeutung der Europäisierung der Sicherheitspolitik (Köln-Bonn, 1985) 23ff.
Die Grünen (ed,), Militärmacht Westeuropa? (Bonn, 1985) 3, 25.
Die Grünen (ed.), Für Blockfreiheit und Menschenrechte! Position der Grünen zur Ost-West-Politik. Für ein friedensfdhiges Europa!, Folder for the Bundestag elections of 1987.
See Appeal of the Russell-Peace-Foundation for a nuclear weapon-free Europe, in: Arbeitskreis Atomwaffenfreies Europa (ed.), Alternativen Europdischer Friedenspolitik (Berlin, 1981) 16. A nuclear-free Europe is also the aim of two of the traditional parties but in their case it is not linked with non-alliance. The 1986 SPD/SED ‘corridor concept’ can be traced back to a proposal made by the Palme Commission in 1982, in which the SPD politician Bahr proposed that the nuclear arms deployed in Central Europe be returned to storage in their countries of origin. In this way, a relatively large nuclear-free zone could be created in Europe. However, Bahr was unable to have this idea adopted by the commission. Also in 1982, the FDP stated that they were in favour of a nuclear-free Europe but with the proviso of ‘creating a conventional balance on as low a level as possible (throughout Europe)’. This whole idea was dropped in later programmes, quite probably because the party recognised that it could not be realised within the present coalition.
See Lothar Brock/Berthold Meyer (eds), Die Zukunft der Sicherheit in Europa (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 1984).
See Christian Hacke, ‘Parlamentarische Opposition und Entspan-nungspolitik — Die Position der CDU/CSU zur KSZE’, in Helga Haftendorn et al. (eds), Verwaltete Aussenpolitik. Sicherheits- und entspannungspolitische Entscheidungsprozesse in Bonn (Köln: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1978) 263ff.
See ‘the Governmental Addresses of Chancellor Kohl’ on 13 October 1982 and 4 May 1983, Auswartiges Amt (ed.), Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa, Dokumentation zum KSZE-Prozess 1984, 6th edn, 248 ff., and ‘the Governmental Address’ on 18 March 1987, Frankfurter Rundschau, Dokumentation, 19 March 1987.
Alois Mertes, ‘Friedenserhaltung — Friedensgestaltung. Zur Diskus-sion für “Sicherheitspartnerschaft”’, Europa-Archiv, 7 (1983) 190.
Resolution of the Bundeshauptausschuss of the FDP on 1 June 1985 on ‘Security policy and SDI’, Die neue Bonner Depesche, Liberale Dokumente, 7 (1985) 2.
See Gottfried Niedhart, ‘Konrad Adenauer und die aussenpolitischen Anfänge der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im Lichte neuer Quellen’, Die deutsche Frage in der Weltpolitik, Neue Politische Literatur: Beihefte, 3 (Stuttgart, 1986) 170.
See Norbert Ropers, Tourismus zwischen West und Ost. Ein Beitrag zum Frieden? (Frankfurt/M. and New York, 1986) 211ff.
Wolfram Hanrieder, Fragmente der Macht. Die Aussenpolitik der Bundesrepublik (München: R. Pipet Cop., 1981) 154.
Working paper of the CDU-MdB Friedmann, in Frankfurter Allge-meine Zeitung, 20 May 1987.
Common declaration of Erich Honecker and Helmut Kohl on 13 March 1985 in Moscow, Deutschland-Archiv, 4 (1985) 446.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1989 The Centre for Peace and Conflict Research
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meyer, B. (1989). Common Security Versus Western Security Cooperation? The Debate on European Security in the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Wæver, O., Lemaitre, P., Tromer, E. (eds) European Polyphony. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20280-5_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20280-5_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-49612-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20280-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)