Civil clause

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Logo on a building of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg . The pacifist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate von Ossietzky died under National Socialist rule in a concentration camp. The University of Oldenburg rejects research for armaments purposes by university institutions.

The civil clause (from civil = bourgeois, unmilitary, and clause = individual provision in a contract, English civil clause ) is a voluntary commitment by scientific institutions such as universities to conduct research exclusively for civil purposes. The first civil clause came into force in 1986 at the University of Bremen . Today they introduced several German universities. Civil clauses only exist in a few other countries, particularly Japan. The idea of ​​the civil clause comes from the peace movement and is directly linked to a policy of disarmament .

history

In its resolution no. 5113 in 1986, the University of Bremen stipulated that "any participation by science and research with military use or objectives" must be rejected by the Academic Senate. In particular, the civil clause called on "the members of the university to reject research topics and resources that could serve armaments purposes." In 1992 this clause was renewed in Bremen. Civil clauses also introduced universities in Berlin (TU) , Dortmund, Konstanz, Oldenburg and Tübingen .

In the federal state of Lower Saxony, the civil clause was part of the Lower Saxony University Act between 1993 and 2002. The formulation of §27 read: "The research in the universities serves the acquisition and application of scientific knowledge, their general dissemination and practical use for peaceful purposes and the preservation of the natural foundations of life as well as the scientific foundation and further development of teaching and study." Civil clause in the state university law Helga Schuchardt , Minister of Science in the state government under Gerhard Schröder (SPD).

The University of Tübingen wrote the civil clause in its constitution in September 2010. Initiatives against arms research have been formed at several universities in recent years. At the end of 2010 in Cologne, 65% voted for the introduction of a civil clause. In June 2012, the students talked University of Augsburg on a non-quorum Assembly with 77% (144 for, 38 against 4 abstentions) for receiving a civil and transparency clause in the basic university order out. This is primarily about the fears associated with the innovation park .

The civil clause cannot be found in the green-red coalition agreement of the new Baden-Württemberg state government elected in spring 2011, although both coalition partners had advocated it beforehand. Also in Frankfurt in 2013, in a strike vote, over 76 percent of the students at the University of Frankfurt were in favor of adopting a passage in the constitution that "research and study should serve civil and peaceful purposes". In Göttingen, the Senate voted in February 2013 to include a civil clause in the study regulations.

While the students of the University of Kiel expressed 2/3 in favor of a civil clause in a survey that was not authorized to issue instructions, the university management is opposed to it. The head of the Kiel Institute for Security Policy Joachim Krause found in a statement that scientific contacts with the Bundeswehr or the defense technology industry are discredited. “ [T] such clauses [are] used by left-wing and, above all, left-wing extremist groups [...] [...] to either control operations at the university in their interests or to disrupt it. According to information from the German Foreign Policy , in an earlier version of its statement, civil clauses should have reminded him of the “ fatal times when universities in Germany were not allowed to cooperate with people or institutions because they were Jewish ”.

Karlsruhe special case

The University of Karlsruhe has a special position. In 2009 it merged with the Karlsruhe Research Center to form the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Because the research center was formerly called the Nuclear Research Center and because of the Potsdam Agreement and the ban on nuclear weapons research, it was set to civil research, the question arose whether this civil clause should now also be transferred to the new KIT ​​when the university merges with the university. The argument about it continues. In June 2009 the party Die Linke submitted a small question to the Bundestag .

Dual use

Many research institutions reject the implementation of a civil clause on the grounds that they only research in the civil field anyway. The proponents of civil clauses consider this to be a pseudo-argument because a lot of supposedly peaceful areas of research are also suitable for military use. The technical term for this is " dual-use " - a double purpose. For example, a civil clause from the Technical University of Munich could stipulate that companies in the armaments-related field should not conduct research on satellite systems because these could easily be used in a war context. Even with old civil clause universities, such as B. Bremen, there are always internal discussions about whether certain research areas violate the civil clause there or not. The computer science professor Hans-Jörg Kreowski, who teaches in Bremen, suspects another form of duality . He considers the civil clause to be an advertising argument that attracts many companies to invest here, while other universities fear a loss of business cooperation.

criticism

In addition to the problem of dual use, it is suggested that if military research can no longer take place at a university, the topic of security and armaments policy would disappear from the university political public due to a lack of necessity. Furthermore, the funds already earmarked in the defense budget would shift from the university to the defense industry.

List of German universities with a civil clause

Source:

US military research at German universities

On November 25, 2013, the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the NDR reported on military research projects at German universities that were funded by the US Department of Defense as part of their joint series Secret War . These also include universities that had agreed to refrain from military research by means of a civil clause.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Credibility stress test for green-red: civil clause KIT and universities of Baden-Württemberg
  2. ↑ Lower Saxony Higher Education Act, revised 1998
  3. ^ Website of the Civil Clause Working Group at the University of Cologne
  4. ↑ AStA of the University of Augsburg - press release: Students speak out in favor of a civil clause ( Memento from January 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ In the spring of 2011, the Greens demanded: “Responsible politics also includes critical handling of Baden-Württemberg's arms production and arms exports. […] The country's research institutions, universities and colleges should pursue exclusively peaceful purposes. In order to make this clear, we advocate the introduction of civil clauses in the statutes of all such institutions. ”The SPD wrote in its“ government program ”:“ Research in Baden-Württemberg should only serve peaceful purposes. ”
  6. ^ Zeit.de: Students at the University of Frankfurt want civil clause , accessed on February 23, 2013
  7. ↑ AStA of the University of Göttingen: Senate resolves civil clause ( memento of September 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Lena Greiner: "Students against Kiel University: Never again war research!"
  9. ↑ Joachim Krause: Civil Clause - No Thanks! Why I am against “civil clauses” at German universities, Internet version of the PDF on the website of the Institute for Security Policy.
  10. ↑ "Tomorrow's Thinking" of July 24, 2013, accessed on July 24, 2013. (Access is chargeable)
  11. ↑ Small request (PDF; 53 kB) from Linke on the civil clause 2009
  12. ↑ AStA of the University of Osnabrück , Andreas Würth: Who is the civil clause good for? in: AStA Zeitung - news about the university and student life p. 3, April / May 2015 edition asta.uni-osnabrueck.de
  13. ^ List of the initiative Universities for Peace - Yes to the civil clause , sorted according to the duration of the clause, accessed on June 5, 2014.
  14. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: US military finances German researchers , accessed on November 25, 2013
  15. ↑ Research for the Pentagon ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.geheimerkrieg.de