Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr

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Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr
- SWInstBw -

SWInstBw.png

logo
active 1974 to December 31, 2012
Country GermanyGermany Germany
Armed forces Bundeswehr Kreuz.svg armed forces
Organizational area Bundeswehr Kreuz.svg Force Base
Type Research institute
Insinuation COA SKA.svg Armed Forces Office
Location DEU Strausberg COA.svg Strausberg , Struzberg barracks
Former locations Muenchen Small City Coat of Arms.svg Munich
commander
Last director and professor Ernst-Christoph Meier
Last project director I Colonel i. G. Holger Wöckener
Project Director II NN
Former seat of SOWI: Winzererstraße 52, Munich

The Social Science Institute of the Federal Armed Forces (SWInstBw or SOWI) was a military service and departmental research facility of the Federal Government and carried out military-related social science research for the Federal Armed Forces on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Defense . It was assigned to the armed forces base , whereby it was subordinate to the armed forces office . The last seat of the Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr was the Struzberg barracks in Strausberg . The institute was finally dissolved on December 31, 2012.

history

The Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr was founded in Munich in 1974 and emerged from the Scientific Institute for Education in the Armed Forces, which was founded in 1968 to develop the curricula for the future universities of the Bundeswehr as well as general principles for training in the armed forces. By transforming the strongly pedagogically oriented institute into a social science research facility, the armed forces-related empirical social research, combined with the development of theory and methods, became the focus of the institute's work.

The decision of the Federal Ministry of Defense, taken in connection with German reunification, to consolidate the departments of the internal management task group in one place in the new federal states led to the relocation of the institute to Strausberg at the beginning of 1995.

The Social Science Institute of the Federal Armed Forces, together with other federal departmental research institutions, was assessed by the Science Council in April 2009 , which issued its opinion on the work of the SWInstBw in November 2009.

On October 26, 2011 it was announced that the SWInstBw was to be merged with the Military History Research Office at the Potsdam location . The institute was finally dissolved on December 31, 2012. Its employees and tasks have largely been transferred to the newly established Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr .

assignment

Through problem-oriented social science research with a predominantly empirical focus, the institute provided expertise for the political and military leadership of the Bundeswehr as well as for the scientific and general public at home and abroad and contributed to basic research. To this end, it applied quantitative and qualitative methods of empirical social research .

It turned research results from representative scale and regularly carried out opinion polls (population survey, youth survey Forces survey, survey of student officers) ready appropriate framework to clarify for the Bundeswehr and to prepare political, administrative and military technical decisions.

The institute examined the cooperation with partner nations in joint associations at the home base as well as in the field and determined attitudes and stresses of the soldiers in foreign missions of the Bundeswehr with the aim of preparing for these tasks, fulfilling the mission on site, supporting the soldiers' families during the deployment and to improve the care of soldiers after their return from an assignment abroad.

It determined the conditions, possibilities and limits of a joint European armed forces integration with the aim of systematically recording and analyzing developments in order to develop proposals for action and provide organizational support for the actors and executives involved.

It covered the need for knowledge in dealing with the diverse challenges that arise from the process of transforming the Bundeswehr , and it was dedicated to the practice and further development of the conception of the citizen in uniform and the inner leadership .

organization

The SWInstBw was run as a military agency and comprised two project areas as well as an administration and support area. The institute was connected to a specialist information point with a library on the Strausberg campus , which was open to both scientists and visiting scholars at the institute as well as external users.

Project area I was divided into the main research areas “Multinationality / European Armed Forces”, “Social-scientific support for Bundeswehr missions abroad” and “Military, ethics and internal leadership”. Project area II was divided into the main research areas of “attitude research and opinion polls”, “transformation of the armed forces” and “personnel recruitment and retention”.

The SWInstBw employed mainly civil servant scientists and scientific employees on the basis of a "core-shell principle", whereby soldiers were mainly deployed in project and organizational areas. The Social Science Institute of the Federal Armed Forces was a member of the working group of departmental research institutions .

Directors

literature

  • Angelika Dörfler-Dierken , Gerhard Kümmel (Ed.): On the pulse of the Bundeswehr. Military sociology in Germany between science, politics, the armed forces and society (= ZMSBw series of publications, Volume 1). Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-11493-0 .
  • Ernst-Christoph Meier : SOWI 35. 35 years of the Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr . Published by the Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr, Strausberg 2009 ( PDF ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wissenschaftsrat (2009): Statement on the Social Science Institute of the Bundeswehr, Strausberg (PDF; 174 kB). Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  2. ↑ Press and Information Center of the Armed Forces Base : Reorientation sticker. Bundeswehr, accessed on July 24, 2013 .