Things started to loosen up in the 80s. After the wall came down, a country of 80m had to figure out how to wind down a total military of almost 800k to around (IIRC) 350k today. At the same time, social services had (and have!) been growing ever more dependent on cheap labor in kindergartens, senior care, etc., and the status of alternative service had risen with their increasing presence. Today, alternative service is the tail that wags the dog (social service providers are screaming this morning).
Out-of-area missions are staffed solely by career soldiers and voluntary recruits. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
However, I can imagine that the rise of alternative service could do quite a bit for social cohesion, especially across generations.
