Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and China’s growing assertiveness, Germany unveiled its first national-security strategy in 70 years. While an important step forward, the lack of concrete policy proposals and uncertainty surrounding institutional mechanisms and necessary financial resources risk relegating it to the archive.
BERLIN – After a significant delay, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently unveiled the country’s first national-security strategy. The long-anticipated plan, introduced nearly a year and a half after Scholz stood before the Bundestag and proclaimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had triggered an “epochal change” (Zeitenwende), is intended to help Germany navigate a changed and uncertain geopolitical landscape. But while the 74-page document – jointly released by the foreign affairs, defense, finance, and interior ministries, as well as the chancellery – clearly lays out the geopolitical and economic challenges facing the country, the strategy, in its current form, is too vague to be an effective guide.
BERLIN – After a significant delay, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently unveiled the country’s first national-security strategy. The long-anticipated plan, introduced nearly a year and a half after Scholz stood before the Bundestag and proclaimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had triggered an “epochal change” (Zeitenwende), is intended to help Germany navigate a changed and uncertain geopolitical landscape. But while the 74-page document – jointly released by the foreign affairs, defense, finance, and interior ministries, as well as the chancellery – clearly lays out the geopolitical and economic challenges facing the country, the strategy, in its current form, is too vague to be an effective guide.