The German green party Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and security and defence policy: pursuing a moderate line

To understand the current political vision of security and defence issues within a party like Alliance 90/The Greens, the place they hold must first be examined. This is no trivial question and requires an incursion into the past6 to measure the extent of the change.

1.1. Pacifism: a constituent axiom of the party (1979-1983)

The party, called "Die Grünen" up to the Reunification, formed at the end of the 1970s out of environmentalist and anti-nuclear citizen movements. These fairly conservative groups were gradually joined by feminists, extra-parliamentary left-wing groups and SPD and FDP dissidents. This coming together of heterogeneous ideological forces to say the least, benefitted from three driving forces: the environmentalist scene was keen to unite; with the revolutionary Leninist and Maoist models running out of steam, the alternative left was in search of a new forum of expression; and the social liberal policy pursued by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (1974-1982) created a wave of frustration. The turning point undoubtedly came with the adoption of NATO's "double-track decision" on theatre nuclear forces (December 1979), which brought together opponents to both civil and military nuclear power, the heirs of a German democratic pacifist tradition and more radical supporters of neutrality rejecting the logic of blocs. "Die Grünen" (The Greens) was thus formed on 12 and 13 January 1980. Pacifism was asserted as one of the party's cardinal values.

1.2. One-upmanship as the solution to conflicts and difficulties coping with a new strategic order (1984-1994)

In the mid-1980s, after making its entry into several regional parliaments (Bade- Wurtemberg, Hamburg and Hesse) and the Bundestag, the party found itself facing a dilemma. Either it joined forces with established parties in order to govern, or locked itself into an ideology and pattern of protest, like the "anti-party party" ("Antipartei-Partei") dreamt of by some8. In this context of integration, pacifism became an intensive corrosive theme and a power struggle issue. While it remained a key hallmark, it was harnessed by the different factions of the party (briefly, the "fundamentalists", called the "Fundis", and the "realists", also called the "Realos" mainly from the "Sponti" movement). This resulted not only in overemphasis on questions of international policy, but also in a radicalisation of positions.

On the one hand, the party's most anti-establishment components, which were better represented in federal governing bodies, took charge of drafting programmes and turned the initially nuclear pacifistic position into an all-out criticism of the military factor which reached its height with the rejection of NATO and the Bundeswehr. On the other hand, the advocates of a realist line sought to moderate and demonstrated their support for more conventional views of German foreign and defence policy, such as "Western integration" ("Westbindung"). They therefore moved closer to the social democrats, where peace causes were regaining momentum from the opposition benches.

The Reunification seemed to leave the Green party in complete disarray. The period that followed shows the extent to which "Die Grünen", by then united with the Eastern German citizen groups of "Bündnis 90", struggled to cope with the new order. The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the bipolar world order triggered virulent internal debates, but they did not, at least to begin with, fundamentally change the party's public position. Disarmament and the end of military blocs in Europe therefore ranked second in its priorities on the 1990 programme, behind the environment. The line failed to convince and the party did not win any seats in reunified Germany's first federal parliament.

1.3. Weakening of security and defence issues (1994 to the present day)

Faced with the spectre of disappearing from the political landscape, the party moved into a period of integration and reconstruction which saw the departure of its most radical figures. The change was underway. In the 1994 federal election programme, "greening" the economic and social system became a central aspect, relegating defence and security questions to the bottom of the list of concerns. This trend was fostered by persistent internal controversies over the advisability of maintaining an extreme pacifistic position, which was utopian in the context of the Yugoslav Wars.

It is true that its participation in social democrat Gerhard Schröder's federal government (1998-2005) forced the party to clarify its position on use of military force when air strikes were launched on Serbia. The subject momentarily took on a spectacular new dimension with the convening of an extraordinary party congress in May 1999 (Bielefeld), held in a highly rowdy atmosphere and sparking off a second wave of member departures. The question resurfaced in 2007 in Göttingen, at the extraordinary congress held to decide on military deployment in Afghanistan. On this occasion, the delegates, representing the party's activist base, voiced their disapproval of extending Germany's participation in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), supported nonetheless by the party's leadership, and voted by majority for a rapid retreat from Afghan soil.

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