Greens in Germany: from ‘’Peace Party’’ into ‘‘War Party’’

This article examines the ideological and political evolution of Germany’s Alliance 90/The Greens from an explicitly pacifist “peace party” into a political actor that legitimizes— and, in government, actively supports—the use of military instruments for humanitarian and security objectives. The analysis combines a chronological reading of the party’s core program documents and election manifestos with an examination of key episodes of political practice, allowing the study to trace how normative self-descriptions (“non-violence”, “culture of restraint”, “primacy of international law”) align—or fail to align—with concrete policy choices.
Methodologically, the study relies on retrospective and systems analysis and treats the party’s positions on war and peace as embedded in Germany’s broader institutional and alliance context (EU, NATO, UN) and in the Greens’ own transition from movement party to governing actor. The article shows that the decisive practical break with pacifism occurred earlier than its doctrinal codification: while the Greens de facto crossed the threshold in 1998–1999 by endorsing NATO’s Kosovo intervention and subsequently supporting deployments such as Afghanistan, they continued for years to preserve a peacemaker identity in programmatic language and public rhetoric. In the 2010s and especially the 2020s, this gap narrowed: by the 2017 program the party’s view of NATO had shifted markedly, and the 2020 Principles and the 2021 manifesto further normalized a security role for the Bundeswehr in multilateral missions. 
The article argues that the Ukraine conflict and the Greens’ participation in the 2021–2025 “traffic light” coalition accelerated and consolidated this transformation. Under the banner of defending human rights, resisting “authoritarian aggression”, and strengthening European security, the party’s leadership promoted policies aimed at enhancing Germany’s and NATO’s military capabilities, elevating the Bundeswehr’s role in external crisis management, and broadening the political acceptability of arms deliveries and their use in conflict settings. After moving into opposition following the early federal election of 2025, the Greens largely retained this confrontational security posture, indicating a structural rather than situational shift. Overall, the article concludes that Alliance 90/The Greens have moved from a pacifist identity anchored in non-violence to a defensive–confrontational paradigm in foreign and security policy, with significant implications for Germany’s strategic culture and the future of “green” politics in Europe.

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