Use of Securitization in Legitimizing Zeitenwende: Shift in German Foreign Policy in Response to the War in Ukraine

Abstract

Three days after the beginning of the fully fledged Russian invasion the German chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a major turning point in its foreign and security policy called Zeitenwende. The Zeitenwende seeks to reform on five courses of action: foreign aid, sanctions, international military cooperation, investment into national security and energy security. The aim of this thesis is to test the hypothesis that the German government has used securitization to legitimise the Zeitenwende. To test the hypothesis, I analyse how the German government has legitimised the Zeitenwende and give my assessment on the suitability of using the securitization mechanism to explain the process. The paper concludes that the securitization mechanism is suitable to analyse the legitimisation of the Zeitenwende. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz has securitized the Russian war in Ukraine to portray the five courses of action, as necessary. Furthermore, I conclude that the securitization has been successful, there has been notable public opinion change concerning the extraordinary measures in the analysed period, and each course of action has at least the support of the relative majority. At least in rhetoric Germany has in fact started the reform of its foreign and security policy. The extent to which the promises have been realised varies across the courses of action.