Development and Structure of Defence Spending in the FRG under the Aspect of the National Economy, 1955 - 1998

The defence budget is influenced by the ,Bundeswehrplan’, i.e. the basic plan for the German Federal Armed Forces. Generally speaking, the defence budget ranges permanently between the military requirements as concerns the army`s defence mandate and the financial and economic possibilities which are politically justifiable. These considerations are the starting point for the empiric and descriptive study in hand, analysing the development and structure of Germany`s defence spending since the formation of the German Federal Armed Forces.
Doubtless the level of defence spending correlates with the scale and intensity of the armed forces` tasks. Hereby, the analysis focuses not only on the military aspects, but also on the political, economic, and social determinants, which influence the scale of the defence tasks and, thereby, the amount of defence spending.
Furthermore, any possibility to rationalise the maintenance of the German Federal Armed Forces, which could be effected by an internal optimisation and by a privatisation of services wherever useful, are weighed up with regard to the political objective of a “Slim state”. Due to the exponential increase of costs as to any project development and procurement, armament cooperations with partner states have become necessary for the implementation of major armament projects in the face of reduced budgets and a decreasing national production.
In addition, the intensive involvement of the Federal Republic of Germany in international defence structures brought about new aspects and demands, which comply with the interests of all people seaking security. However, the morality and acceptance of a future Security Policy within our society will depend essentially on the satisfaction of such need for security, and on the functions of military force hereby, applied within the scope of peace securing measures.” (Hintz, F. K., 2000: Entwicklung und Struktur bundesdeutscher Verteidigungsausgaben aus staatswirtschaftlicher Sicht [Development and Structure of the Defence Spending of the FRG under the Aspect of the National Economy]. Dissertation, University of Koblenz-Landau, abstract).

The empirical part of this study can be outlined as follows:

(1) Structure of defence budget:
The defence budget includes all estimated and expectable budgetary revenues, considering the payable budget expenditures as well as the respectively required commitment authorisations, established posts, and other positions within the area of operations of the German Federal Ministry of Defence. In accordance with the vertical classification of the budget, the ‘content’ of the Single Plan No. 14 (“Einzelplan 14”, area of operations of the Federal Ministry of Defence, Bonn) is divided into single ‘chapters’. Each such chapter, in its turn, is partitioned by single ‘titles’, according to an arrangement plan for the federal budget.

2) Development of defence spending:
The defence expenditures are presented by means of a level-related analysis (absolute in relation to the gross domestic product or GDP) and an analysis focused on structure. In the respective documents published by the German Federal Ministry of Defence, (non-intensive) operational expenditures are distinguished from defence-intensive expenditures. In doing so, all operational costs are classified in three categories: personnel costs, materials, and other operational costs. Accordingly, all defence-intensive expenditures are listed in four categories: research, development, and testing; military acquirements; military facilities; other investments. Finally, the expenditures are shown as per the different sections of the armed forces: army, air force, and navy.

(3) International comparison:
Since there is a lack of more reliable figures about e.g. the member states of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, this international comparison is limited to the NATO states.
The NATO defines the term “defence expenditure” as “the national governments` expenditures which are exclusively intended for the countries` armed forces”; in terms of the NATO regulations, this is a binding definition. Furthermore, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has developed standardised criteria in this regard. Hereby the German defence expenditures are differentiated. Apart from the above-mentioned “Single Plan No. 14”, which comprises approximately 80% of the defence spending as accounted for by the NATO, also other expenses on the part of the German federal government are implied herein (e.g. regulations for the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, the “Wehrbeauftragter”, as specified in the Single Plan No. 02, defence and armament support for other countries, the NATO civil budget as defined in the Single Plan No. 05, the German Border Police [Single Plan No. 06], and retirement pensions for members of the armed forces [Single Plan No. 33]).

Factual classification of corresponding data tables in the search and downloadsystem HISTAT (Historical Statistics; www.histat.gesis.org):

Federal Republic of Germany
1. Defence budget and gross domestic product (1960-1997)
2. National expenditures according to different purposes (1952-1998)
3. Defence budget und national budget (1955-1998)
4. Defence budget (nominal/real) (1955-1998)
5. Operational expenditures and defence-intensive expenses (1955-1998)
6. Defence budget according to the sections of the armed forces (1960-1997)

NATO
7.1.1 NATO defence spending in million dollars from 1973 on (1956-1976)
7.1.2 NATO defence spending in million dollars from 1980 on (1977-1986)
7.1.3 NATO defence spending in million dollars from 1990 on (1987-1996)
7.2 NATO defence spending in precent as compared to the preceding year (growth
rates) (1956-1996)
7.3 NATO defence spending in percent (1956-1996)
7.4 NATO defence spending per capita of the population in dollars (1987-1996)
7.5 NATO defence spending in percent of the gross domestic product (1956-1995)
7.6 NATO personnel costs (1987-1996)
7.7 NATO other operational expenditures (1987-1996)
7.8 NATO defence-intensive expenditures (1987-1996)

Timeseries are downloadable via the online system HISTAT (www.histat.gesis.org).

德国国防预算受《联邦国防军计划（Bundeswehrplan）》规制。一般而言，国防预算始终处于军队国防任务授权所提出的军事需求与政治上合理可行的财政经济能力之间的区间内。本经验性描述性研究即以此为出发点，分析自德国联邦国防军（German Federal Armed Forces）成立以来德国国防支出的发展与结构。

毋庸置疑，国防支出规模与军队任务的规模及强度高度相关。本次分析不仅聚焦军事层面，同时也涵盖影响国防任务规模进而影响国防支出额度的政治、经济与社会决定因素。

此外，针对可通过内部优化以及在适宜场景下实施服务私有化来合理化德国联邦国防军运维的各类方案，本研究将结合“小政府（Slim state）”的政治目标进行权衡考量。鉴于任何项目开发与采购的成本均呈指数级增长，在预算缩减与国内产能下降的背景下，与伙伴国开展军备合作已成为实施大型军备项目的必要条件。

此外，德意志联邦共和国深度参与国际国防架构，这带来了新的议题与需求，契合所有寻求安全的民众的利益。然而，未来社会中安全政策的道德性与认可度，本质上将取决于此类安全需求的满足程度，以及军事力量在维和举措范围内的运用效能。[辛茨（F. K. Hintz），2000年：《从国民经济视角看西德国防支出的发展与结构》，科布伦茨-兰道大学博士学位论文，摘要]

本研究的实证部分可概述如下：

(1) 国防预算结构：
国防预算涵盖所有预估及可预期的预算收入，同时考虑应缴预算支出、相应所需的承诺授权、既定岗位及德国联邦国防部（German Federal Ministry of Defence）业务范围内的其他款项。依据预算的纵向分类，第14号单项计划（Einzelplan 14，即联邦国防部业务范围，波恩）的“内容”被划分为若干“章节”。各章节又依据联邦预算的编制计划，进一步细分为若干“条目”。

(2) 国防支出发展：
国防支出将通过层级分析（绝对数值与国内生产总值（Gross Domestic Product，简称GDP）的比值）以及结构分析进行呈现。在德国联邦国防部发布的相关文件中，（非密集型）运营支出与国防密集型支出有所区分。据此，所有运营成本可划分为三类：人员成本、物资成本及其他运营成本。相应地，所有国防密集型支出可分为四类：研究、开发与测试；军事采购；军事设施建设；其他投资。最终，支出数据将按陆军、空军、海军各军种分别展示。

(3) 国际比较：
由于华沙条约组织成员国等的相关数据可靠性不足，本次国际比较仅限定于北约（North Atlantic Treaty Organization，简称北约）成员国。
北约将“国防支出”定义为“各国政府专门用于本国武装力量的支出”，该定义符合北约相关规定，具有约束力。此外，北大西洋公约组织在此方面制定了标准化标准。据此对德国国防支出进行区分。除上述约占北约统计口径下国防支出80%的“第14号单项计划”外，德国联邦政府还存在其他相关支出，例如：第02号单项计划中规定的议会国防专员（Wehrbeauftragter）相关经费、为他国提供的国防与军备支持经费、第05号单项计划中规定的北约民用预算经费、第06号单项计划中的德国边境警察经费，以及第33号单项计划中的武装部队成员退休金。

本研究涉及的相关数据表可在HISTAT历史统计系统（Historical Statistics，网址：www.histat.gesis.org）的检索与下载系统中按类别查询：

德意志联邦共和国
1. 国防预算与国内生产总值（1960-1997年）
2. 按不同用途划分的国家支出（1952-1998年）
3. 国防预算与国家预算（1955-1998年）
4. 国防预算（名义值/实际值）（1955-1998年）
5. 运营支出与国防密集型支出（1955-1998年）
6. 按军种划分的国防预算（1960-1997年）

北约
7.1.1 1973年起的北约国防支出（单位：百万美元，1956-1976年）
7.1.2 1980年起的北约国防支出（单位：百万美元，1977-1986年）
7.1.3 1990年起的北约国防支出（单位：百万美元，1987-1996年）
7.2 北约国防支出较上年的百分比（增长率）（1956-1996年）
7.3 北约国防支出占比（1956-1996年）
7.4 北约人均国防支出（单位：美元，1987-1996年）
7.5 北约国防支出占国内生产总值的比例（1956-1995年）
7.6 北约人员成本（1987-1996年）
7.7 北约其他运营支出（1987-1996年）
7.8 北约国防密集型支出（1987-1996年）

时序数据可通过HISTAT在线系统（www.histat.gesis.org）下载。