Civil power

Civil power describes a social constructivist theory of international relations coined by Hanns W. Maull and at the same time a foreign policy role concept of states (especially Germany and Japan) in international relations.

Globalization and the increasing dependence on states promote the legalization and institutionalization of international relations among civil powers, which are then implemented in strategies to "stabilize the international environment". An "ideal typical civil power" actively contributes to the civilization of international relations and strives to replace the violent enforcement of rules (politics through power) with the internationalization of socially accepted norms (politics through legitimacy).

A civil power holds back militarily and instead prefers civilian conflict management strategies.

According to Maull, Germany is described as an “ideal type of civil power” in the context of international relations . A military operation only takes place in the case of self-defense (e.g. Atalanta mission off Somalia ) or collectively legitimized coercive measures (e.g. participation in the UN ISAF mission in Afghanistan ).

Kirste describes the civilization of international relations in the ideal type with three specific goals:

1. Willingness to shape (willingness and ability to civilize international relations by initiating multilateral action)
2. Renunciation of autonomy (willingness to act as a supporter of collective security arrangements through the transfer of sovereignty to international institutions)
3. Enforcement of norms regardless of interests (willingness to implement a civilized international order even if this violates short-term "national interests")

literature

• Hanns W. Maull: Germany as a civil power . In: Siegmar Schmidt, Gunther Hellmann, Reinhard Wolf (ed.): Handbook on German foreign policy . 1st edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-13652-3 ( online as a pdf on Springer Link [accessed on March 7, 2013]).
• Christian Hacke: Germany and the Libya conflict: civil power without moral courage - essay. Federal Agency for Civic Education, September 21, 2011, accessed on March 7, 2013 . 
• Bernhard Stahl: German foreign policy in the Libya crisis - the explanatory contribution of the discourse-bound identity theory . Paper for the panel “The world as a narrative” at the DVPW conference of the “International Politics” section in Munich, 6–7. October 2011. June 10, 2011, p. 33 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Peter Zeitler: Germany's role in the recognition of the Republic of Croatia under international law with special consideration of the German Foreign Minister Genscher. Tectum Verlag, 2000, p. 177.
2. ↑ Sebastian Harnisch: German foreign policy after the fall of the Wall: Civil Power at the End? Contribution to the 21st DVPW Congress in Halle, 1.-5. October 2000, pdf (online at: deutsche-aussenpolitik.de ) ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.