Zeitenwende and the German National Security Policy: Analysis of the First National Security Strategy

Kostić Šulejić, Marina (2023) Zeitenwende and the German National Security Policy: Analysis of the First National Security Strategy. The Review of International Affairs, LXXIV (1188). pp. 79-105. ISSN 0486-6096

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Abstract

The subject of this paper is to characterise the German term Zeitenwende as a “turning point in history”, which culminated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the first German national security strategy. The paper examines if and how the global Zeitenwende changed German security and defence policy through four variables: a strategic environment, the character of security policy, perceived threats, and responses. This change is examined through the use of the concept of change in international relations and methods of historical and content analysis, as well as comparative methods. The structured interview is also used for the collection of relevant data. The paper concludes that, on the one hand, the Zeitenwende proves German transatlantic and multilateral security policy identity and interests, such as a greater and more accepted influence within NATO, holding the European division line and Russian geopolitical interests away from German borders, and spreading the European security order as wide as possible. On the other side, it contributes to the further evolution of German security policy by releasing it from residual Second World War constraints. Finally, the Zeitenwende involves Germany more strongly in a global systemic rivalry, making it less dependent on other “poles” of world order and with a priority given to competing with challengers rather than changing them from within.

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