The reform of the Bundeswehr and the future of Germany’s peacekeeping activities

Abstract

The reform of the Bunderwehr has been in the focus of attention of Russian and foreign research since the unification of the country^ when Germany started speaking about its responsibility for peace and political stability. Germany’s army had to not only rearm and optimize military personnel, but also to conceptualize its new role in the world and extend its global representation for the purpose of conflict settlement. However, over the last years, the consideration of problems of the Bundeswehr reforming and development has become especially important due to the fact that the Bundeswehr faces new challenges and threats, including those of a non-military nature. The reforms of Germany’s army, which have been covered in the recent documents aimed at the substantiation of the increased use of the Bundeswehr abroad, reflect the political leaders’ aspiration to make it a more effective instrument of protection against hybrid threats and prevention of conflicts affecting Germany’s security. The purpose of the article is to analyze the reform of the Bundeswehr and their influence on Germany’s peacekeeping activities. The study is based on discourse-analysis and the analysis of the main documents, determining the directions of modernization of Germany’s army, and the documents, regulating peacekeeping activities, official reports of the Ministry of Defense, official reports of the Ministry of Defense, and mass media materials about the state and the problems of the armed forces. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that it considers the reform of the Bundeswehr in its close correlation with its peacekeeping profile as the main sphere of using Germany’s army. Based on the analysis of the recent documents, regulating its activities, the author comes to the conclusion that its reforming is aimed at the expansion of peacekeeping activities, while peace-enforcement operations are considered as a last-ditch measure.