Leadership development and civic education within the armed forces

Practising the use of means of force by all means, and under all circumstances, is precarious. For that reason it is all the more important that soldiers develop a critically reflected attitude to the use of such means. For decades it has been an important element of the Church’s peace work to support and critically monitor the armed forces in promoting a culture of leadership and ethics education. Such a culture is the prerequisite for the ethical acceptability of armed forces.

“Soldiers as servants of peace”, a statement of the German bishops on the status and tasks of soldiers in the federal armed forces, which has been prepared by a Justice and Peace task force, deals with the question of consolidating Innere Führung in the context of multilateral missions of the federal armed forces.

Publication “Soldiers as Servants of Peace”