Seminars and Excursions

The department of Seminars and Excursions includes several formats, which are presented below.

Since 2012, the seminar series "Economy & Security" is highlighting the interdependence between Economy and Security once a year focusing on the influence that businesses have on German security policy. The main topic of the seminar varies each year but always focuses on security policy implications. In recent years, topics included "Arms Procurement and Arms Markets" (2018) as well as "Cyber and Critical Infrastructure" (2019).

 

Since 2016, BSH is organizing an annual seminar on a current security policy topic in cooperation with the so called Zentrum für Informationsarbeit der Bundeswehr (ZInfoABw) in Strausberg. The seminar focuses on different perspectives and approaches of various institutions and ministries, as well as the scientific categorization of current developments in security policy. During the seminar, participants have the opportunity to deal in detail with a specific area of German Foreign and Security policy. Topics so far included the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) and PESCO (2018) as well as the Franco-German partnership and its importance for Europe (2019).

 

The seminar in Koblenz, which takes place once a year, is another pillar of the BSH's basic security policy work. It is organized and conducted together with the Zentrum für Innere Führung (ZInFü) of the German Bundeswehr. The seminar aims to enable participants to get to know the Bundeswehr as a security policy actor. In particular, the concept of Innere Führung is examined as a guiding principle for soldiers. In addition to the content on the basic lines of German security policy, integration into the collective defense system NATO and into the EU, the legal aspects of the Bundeswehr's foreign deployments and their legitimacy are also dealt with.

 

The BSH, in cooperation with the Multinational CIMIC Command of the Bundeswehr in Nienburg, offers students and young graduates the opportunity to participate in the international exercise Joint Cooperation within the framework of civil-military cooperation. During the Joint Cooperation exercise, some 350 CIMIC and civilian mission and relief forces from more than 20 EU and NATO member states train in joint civil-military cooperation in the context of a fictitious crisis scenario. The exercise combines planning and command processes at staff level with exercise elements of practical implementation. In the process, more than 120 role players from local government, business, the security institutions and the population of the neighbouring countries represent a uniquely realistic exercise scenario. This makes Joint Cooperation the largest multinational exercise of civil-military cooperation in NATO.

 

The two-week "UN Mission HQ" simulation is part of the two-year general staff training course at the German Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Hamburg, the course for future leaders of the Bundeswehr. The aim of the course, which is regularly attended by representatives of the BSH, is to prepare future staff officers for assignments in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations. These deployments are conducted as "integrated missions" to ensure the effectiveness of the UNs peacekeeping effort. In order to present the exercise as realistic as possible, members of the police, THW, DRK and other civilian organizations take part in addition to officers of the Bundeswehr. The simulation aims to enable an insight into the role of the Bundeswehr in blue-helmet operations, but also into the interplay between military and civilian measures in the context of UN missions. Thus, the course offers a comprehensive insight into the planning culture of the UN as well as the related political and operational aspects.

 

In April 2019, a group of 20 participants travelled to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as part of the BSH's first International Security Policy Excursion to gain detailed insight into the security situation on the ground and Germany's engagement on NATO's eastern flank. The program of the six-day trip included visits to the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, the Baltic Air Policing Reinforcement, the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, the German Embassy in Vilnius, the German part of NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force and the NATO Force Integration Unit.

 

In the wake of developments surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the BSH has expanded its event offerings to include online seminars. Participants and speakers from research and practice discuss a broad range of security policy topics via ZOOM.