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Political Constraints:
Germany and Counterinsurgency
Author: Benjamin Schreer
Volume 6, Number 1 (Autumn 2010), pp. 97-108.
Abstract
This article examines the challenges for the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, to adapt to the counterinsurgency (COIN) challenge in the context of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. It argues that prevailing German strategic thought makes it very hard for the Bundeswehr to adjust for COIN in a comprehensive way. While adjustments have been made, these are largely on the operational and tactical level. The political and the strategic level of the armed forces are far from embracing COIN as a strategy and as a major task for the Bundeswehr. Germany’s allies and partners like Australia need to recognise the structural factors putting brakes to a rapid transformation of the Bundeswehr for COIN.
About the Author
Dr Benjamin Schreer is deputy director at the Aspen Institute Germany in Berlin. Previously, he was research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and co-leader of a research group at the University of Konstanz. His primary areas of research and publication include the future of NATO and strategic trends in the Asia-Pacific, including Australian defence policy. Schreer@aspeninstitute.de.
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