Does the war in Ukraine really represent a "turning point"?
How does military sociology assess this?
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's announcement that he intends to quickly upgrade the Bundeswehr with an additional 100 billion euros has been taken as evidence of this.
Numerous military experts have criticized the fact that it will probably take years before these additional funds bring real improvements in the combat capability of the German armed forces.
And a renowned sociologist, of all people, has published an article whose title “More of the same” sounds even more skeptical: is it all just the same again, only more of it?
This is Wolfgang Streeck.
The former director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne is not a military sociologist himself.
He simply compares Ukrainian, Russian and German society and finds that the latter is the least fit for military service.
And the armament that has now been announced will not change anything, according to Streeck, because it will miss its goal: strengthening German society's readiness to defend itself against an external aggressor.
Prepare to fight.
Basically, Streeck's reproach to the public is: You misunderstand this war.
You don't observe Ukrainian society, which has to lead him because he was imposed on them from outside.
And that's why the German public sees this war as a reminder to politicians and the military as a subsystem of politics to prepare for it with military armament.
Streeck's reading of this war, on the other hand, does not allow this delegation of the challenge, and that is what makes it explosive: For him, it is Ukrainian society itself that is at war with the Russian army.
That is why, for Wolfgang Streeck, there can only be one sociological answer to this observation: Arm yourself and get ready to fight!
We?
US?
But don't we have the professionals in the Bundeswehr for that?
In the military-sociological discussion, the underlying conflict has been led under the question "Athens or Sparta" for years.
Which society is better able to cope with the current challenges of the European security situation: Would it be Athens as the epitome of a democratic polity with the republican attitude of a citizenry that would be ready to defend their homeland in an emergency?
Or, under the slogan Sparta, a largely demilitarized society of civilians who, to protect their post-heroic culture, relies on a highly professional caste of warriors who differ fundamentally from society in terms of their equipment, their ideals and their willingness to make sacrifices?
According to Streeck, the pictures from the Ukraine show very clearly: here, citizens in uniform are fighting for their homeland.
A higher defense budget alone does not make you better prepared to defend yourself
Streeck criticizes Scholz' rearmament because there is absolutely no sociological connection between this plan and the events in Ukraine.
Russia would have attacked the country even with a much higher German military budget, because we would not have defended Ukraine then either.
And why, Streeck asks, is Germany now buying the American F-35 fighter plane?
The stealth bomber would be a key part of securing Europe's nuclear deterrent.
So is the most important response to Putin's conventionally-led aggression against Ukraine more nuclear armament for Germany?
Streeck is also surprised that the Bundeswehr leadership dismissed the first tentative questions about the reintroduction of general conscription.
He remarks that such a duty would be the strongest expression of a society that would understand its self-defence as a common territorial task that reaches deep into German society.
Wars make us aware again that a society is also a limited area.
Streeck's provocative conclusion is: learn to defend this area again.
Be able to operate weapons instead of just having weapons bought.
Our "consumerist" model of social defense would have to be replaced by a "communitarian" one.
Streeck creates the image of "citizen militias",
who, following the Swiss example, would literally take the defense of their free society into their own hands alongside military specialists.
An outlandish suggestion?
It should at least be discussed in the light of events in Ukraine.