“Zeitenwende on tour” – accessible security policy

“We are experiencing a turning point. And that means that afterwards, the world will no longer be the same place it was before.” Just a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, these were the words that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz used to announce a fundamental realignment of German security and foreign policy. What exactly does the term “Zeitenwende” mean? And what are people in Germany saying about the changes? An initiative of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) is providing them with a forum. 

With its “Zeitenwende on tour” series of events, the MSC is inviting citizens to join the dialogue. The initiative involves events at town halls and visits to schools and businesses. MSC Senior Fellow Nico Lange believes it is very important that the MSC, which normally invites only heads of state and government, ministers and experts, is now actively approaching citizens. “If one is seeking a democratic legitimation for this new security policy, it cannot be decided only in Berlin - one must talk to people all over the country, listen to what they have to say and explain to them why a change in security policy is necessary.”  

A political scientist and military expert, Nico Lange has worked in the USA, Ukraine and Russia, as well as in a senior position for Germany’s Defence Ministry. For nearly two years he has been with the MSC, where he is responsible for the discussion formats. These focus on topics such as arms shipments, energy policy or the Middle East Conflict. Discourse is significantly more constructive when it takes place live rather than in the charged atmosphere of online debates, he believes. “People in the real world are much more friendly and polite than they are on social media,” says Lange. 

The places where the citizens’ meetings take place are carefully chosen. For example, the “Zeitenwende on tour” was recently held in a town of great significance for German history, namely Lutherstadt Wittenberg. A “place where another epochal turning point once began,” explains Lange. For such events, the initiative also tries to find out-of-the-ordinary venues - from a car repair shop or theatre to a factory building. The idea is for them to be accessible to as broad a section of society as possible. As Lange says: “It is important that campaigns and discussions with citizens should not be conducted solely on posters and social media, but that one should meet with people, listen to and respect one another and take one another seriously even when one’s opinions may differ. That is the only way to make genuine progress in debates.”