Missing in Action? Germany’s Bumpy Road from Institution-Building to Substance in European Security and Defence Policy

Abstract

Between the intergovernmental negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty of 1990/91 and the elaboration of a ‘Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe’ of 2002–04, Germany’s policy on European security and defence has undergone some changes that go to the very identity of the federal republic. In terms of European policy, the German government has changed from a vanguard to a laggard in a crucial issue area of European integration: whereas it used to be an emphatic proponent of a European security and defence policy in the early 1990s, its contribution to a working security and defence policy has been declining. In terms of military policy, Germany’s now frequent contributions to military missions contrast with the anti-militarist tradition of the Bonn Republic. Equally importantly, conscription that used to coin the identity of the ‘Bonn Republic’ has been undermined to an extent that makes its abolition a mere question of time.