Wanninger, Thomas Kritik der Inneren Führung

A Concept of Defence in Democracy
Defence in democracy requires justification, for this form of state is fundamentally based on the freedom, development and diversity of its citizens.
Since the Ukraine War of 2022 at the latest, we in Germany have known that we can no longer afford self-indulgent luxury. However, armed forces in a democracy are bound by obligations and attitudes on how to achieve the goal of defence. This is the purpose of Innere Führung in the Bundeswehr.
The aim of the book is to find axioms of Innere Führung that no longer require any further justification and can therefore serve as the inner foundation of democratic armed forces.

The author first outlines a system from which five axioms of Innere Führung are named. These are a societal principle, a democratic principle and a personal principle. In addition, there is a complementary principle and an identity principle, where the unity of opposites is addressed. This is decisive for the specific nature of the soldier's profession, in which freedom must be defended with a weapon in hand.
From these considerations follow approaches to a simplification of the Bundeswehr. There will be no getting around the need to place trust and creative freedom in the superior who is practised in a democratic attitude.

Thomas Wanninger
Dr. phil. Thomas Wanninger (born 1971) is a retired lieutenant colonel from Regensburg. In the German Armed Forces he served, among other things, in the Mountain Infantry, as a company commander, at the Centre for Innere Führung and as an advisor in higher command authorities.