The illusion of a “peace dividend” has tempted Western politicians in general and German ones in particular to redefine the purpose of a navy to include peacetime missions such as “Maritime Security” or ”Humanitarian Response”, or, worse, to even substitute wartime objectives with peacetime ambitions.

The paper argues that while it is perfectly fine to use warships for peacetime missions, it must not compromise a navy’s ability to fight and win a war at sea. Every dollar spent differently reduces national security.

About the author: Dr. Jörg Schimmelpfennig is Professor emeritus of Theoretical and Applied Microeconomics at Ruhr University Bochum and Senior Research Fellow at GIDS Hamburg.


GIDSstatement 6/24 in english


Autor: Jörg Schimmelpfennig

Foto: Bundeswehr / Daniel Angres

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