The End of Germany’s Strategic Restraint
Abstract
In a special session of the German Bundestag on February 27, 2022, on the occasion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the federal government announced nothing less than a realignment of the Federal Republic of Germany’s long-standing security and defense policy principles. The decisions taken by the Government replaced the „culture of strategic restraint“ that had for decades characterized German decision-making in foreign, security and defense policy with a more active, independent and robust foreign policy role.
