Gewissensfreiheit und ethische Bildung in der Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr requires its soldiers to practice ‘conscience-based obedience.’ To fulfil this requirement, they need legal protection of their conscience and the opportunity to develop it. On the one hand, this book analyses the historical development of the legal right to freedom of conscience, as well as the internal handling of conscience-based (dis)obedience. On the other hand, it reconstructs ethical education in the Bundeswehr, systematically assigns the two pillars of ‘life skills education’ and ‘military ethics’ to their respective spheres of responsibility, and develops a model of ‘moral judgment’ for military conflict situations. Finally, it highlights the dangers to freedom of conscience and ethical education following the ‘Zeitenwende’.