Parliamentary War Powers: The Constitutional Framework of Military Deployment Decisions in Germany

Abstract

In the 1994 AWACS I decision the FCC held for the first time that parliamentary consent to military deployment decision was required, later codified in a statute and leading to a frequent constitutional practice. The article reviews the 1994 judgment in its constitutional context and in the light of the evolution in subsequent decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court, most recently on the Libya rescue intervention (judgment of September 2015).

Keywords: War Powers, Military Deployments and Parliament, Rule of Law, 'Essential Question' Doctrine, Constitutionality of Military Deployment, Parliaments and Foreign Affairs