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FOREIGN POLICY
TOPIC
COMMITTED TO PEACE AND SECURITY
Diplomacy, crisis prevention, and the peace-
NATO. Wherever possible, Bundeswehr
ful settlement of conflicts are the primary
missions abroad are always accompanied by
tools of German foreign policy: The posting
a civilian component, such as political, de-
of civil servants, judges, public prosecutors,
velopment, and socio-economic measures.
police officers, development workers and
Missions involving armed forces are subje ct
other civilians is just as much part and
to parliamentary mandate and control.
parcel of a comprehensive security policy as
They need the express approval of a major-
the Bundeswehr, the German army, partici-
ity of the members of the German parlia-
pating in multinational peace missions. The
ment, the Bundestag, and are in each case
determining feature of German foreign pol-
only for the duration of one year. For this
icy, close multilateral involvement, also ap-
reason, the Bundeswehr is also referred to
plies, indeed particularly so for the use of mili-
as a parliamentary army.
tary means. In principle, the Bundeswehr is
deployed within the framework of collective
Germany has been politically and militar-
security or defence systems. As such it is
ily integrated in NATO since the Bun-
bound to the resolutions passed by the United
deswehr was first founded in 1955. Being
Nations (UN), European Union (EU), and
firmly anchored in the North Atlantic
defence alliance is part of German foreign
policy’s DNA. Germany is or was one of the
LIST
biggest providers of troops for the NATOled missions in Kosovo (KFOR) and Afghani-
∙ North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), German accession in 1955
stan (ISAF, Resolute Support). Since 1990
the Bundeswehr has been involved in 35
missions abroad, of which 19 were conclud-
∙ United Nations (UN),
German accession in 1973
∙ Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),
German accession on foundation in
1973 (at the time still the Conference
on Security and Co-operation in
Europe, CSCE)
ed by 2015.
In the wake of the Ukraine crisis, Germany
once again demonstrated its commitment
to NATO defence. In 2015 the Bundeswehr,
together with the Netherlands and Norway,
helped set up the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which as part
of collective defence and crisis management is intended to improve the Alliance’s