Just Paying Lip Service? Public Trust and Public Support for Armed Forces in Germany

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211043917
• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211043917

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(2) 395 –418

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211043917

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Article

1134644AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X211043917Armed Forces & SocietyBiehl

research-article2022

Just Paying Lip Service?

Public Trust and Public

Support for Armed Forces in

Germany

Heiko Biehl

1



Abstract

The article presentsan empirical analysis of whether, how,and why people are active to

either support or protest against the Bundeswehr. Public opinion polls consistently

report high levelsof trust in the military. Accordingto the social-psychological approach

of participation theory, this trust should lead to corresponding actions. However, the

literature on civil–military gaps claims thatthe majority of people pay mere lip service to

soldiers rather than actively support the armed forces. No active support despite high

levels of trust?In an effort to empirically test the leveland the determinants of the public’s

support for and protest against the military, an activity scale was included in a repre-

sentative opinion poll in Germany. The analyses show that a fairly large part of the

German population engages in activities that support the Bundeswehr and that public

trust in the military predicts that supportive behavior. Importantly, trust in the armed

forces remains a strong predictor of citizens’activities related to the armed forces even

when controlling for numerous other factors. Taken together, these f‌indings contradict

the widely shared view of a civil–military gap and insteadprovide empirical evidence for

the social-psychological approach of participation theory.

Keywords

civil–military gap, public opinion, political participation, Bundeswehr, Germany, public

trust, civil–military relations

1

Bundeswehr Center of Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSBw), Potsdam, Germany

Corresponding Author:

Heiko Biehl, Bundeswehr Center of Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSBw), Zeppelinstr. 127/128,

Potsdam 14471, Germany.

Email: heikobiehl@bundeswehr.org

396 Armed Forces & Society 49(2)

“Support Our Troops”—Who Does and Why?

Ribbons with the lettering “Support Our Troops”have been common in the US for

decades, whereas in Germany they are quite new and not yet widely used. To some

observers, these ribbons are a genuine expression of support for the armed forces, for

others merely a sign of “symbolic solidarity”(Bacevich, 2013, p. 5) that comes without

real consequences. According to this critique, most civilians are just paying lip service

to their military. These doubts connect to the enduring debate in military sociology

about civil–military gaps (Brooks, 2019; Cohen & Cohen, 2020; Cohn, 1999; Cohn

et al., 2018; Collins & Holsti, 1999; Feaver & Kohn, 2001; Rahbek-Clemmensen et al.,

2012). Only few citizens provide substantial and reliable support for the armed forces

according to scholars who perceive a crisis in the societal dimension of civil–military

relations. In his inf‌luential description of the postmodern military, Moskos already

characterized the public’s attitude towards the military as being “indifferent”(Moskos,

2000, p. 15) and “skeptical or apathetic”(Moskos & Burk, 1998, p. 169). The end of

conscription is said to be a major cause for the growing distance between soldiers and

civilians. This view has been present in public and academic debates in most Western

countries: foremost in the US, where the current debate started two decades ago with the

inf‌luential study of Feaver and Kohn (2001), but also in European countries like the UK

(Strachan, 2003) and France (Vennesson, 2003). In Germany, the diagnosis of an

insuff‌icient societal support for the armed forces is widely shared in the military

(Würich & Scheffer, 2014), in the literature (Clement, 2007, p. 136–137; Feldmeyer,

2005, p. 72; Münkler, 2007; Reichelt & Meyer, 2010; von Bredow, 2015, p. 263), and

among politicians (K¨

ohler, 2005; K¨

onigshaus, 2010; Robbe, 2010, 2013; Steinmeier,

2020). With regard to the situation in Germany, Fleckenstein (2000, p. 88) already

stated two decades ago: “Yes tothe Bundesw ehr,but without me!”(c.f., Collmer, 2002,

p. 163; Heins & Warburg, 2004, p. 126; van der Meulen, 2004).

This widely shared diagnosis stands in contrast to public opinion polls which

continuously reveal high levels of trust in the armed forces. There may be some

variation across countries, but armed forces generally enjoy high levels of trust in

Western nations, as the Eurobarometer (2019, p. 47) surveys conf‌irm repeatedly. The

Bundeswehr is no exception in this regard as it enjoys a good reputation in all social

groups (Steinbrecher et al., 2019). Trust in the German military is higher than in many

other public institutions—be it the federal government, political parties, or the

churches. When confronted with these results, the proponents of the civil–military gap

thesis regularly dismiss the value of survey results and respondents’attitudes. For them,

the public approval expressed in the polls is without substance and remains mean-

ingless for the everyday life of ordinary citizens (Allen & Braun, 2013, p. 73; Bacevich,

2013,p.4–5; Brooks, 2016; Reichelt & Meyer, 2010; von Bredow, 2015). Allegedly,

the high levels of trust are a mere acclamation produced by surveys with no actual

behavior following. Although the thesis of a lack of societal support for the armed

forces is as widespread as the doubts about the value of high approval rates in surveys,

there is little empirical foundation for these assumptions.

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