The political scientist Daniela Schwarzer on the crisis year 2023, lessons for Germany – and the term “war capability”.
Ms. Schwarzer, in 2022 we thought things couldn’t get much worse. But 2023 hasn’t really gotten any better. Can a government be overwhelmed by so many crises?
It can happen. In addition to crisis management, it is also about making fundamental decisions for the future. If the focus is one-sidedly on crisis management, energy that should flow into shaping green or digital transformations or preparing the country for future risks is of course lost.
How big is this deficit in Germany?
Large. For a long time, the danger of Russia going to war against Ukraine was not taken seriously. At least not in a way that serious preparations have been made, in addition to defense capability, for example in terms of energy. Dependence should have been reduced since 2014, when Putin annexed Crimea and began to formulate his imperialist vision of a greater Russia that included Ukraine. The opposite happened.
© Marlena Waldthausen
Daniela Schwarzer is one of the leading political scientists in Germany. Born in Hamburg in 1973, she studied in Tübingen as well as in Great Britain and France. From 2016 to 2021 she was director of the German Society for Foreign Policy. In 2021 she will become an honorary professor at the Free University of Berlin. She has been a member of the board of the Bertelsmann Foundation since May 2023.
The current government prides itself on having corrected these mistakes.
Yes. Under the pressure of the war, this government quickly and successfully changed course to secure energy supplies. But as part of reactive crisis management. The real task remains: the green transformation, which will require high investments.