Bringing defence back home
Security imaginaries of Polish and German shift to territorial defence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22425713 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Weronika Grzebalska (0000-0003-2667-5586, Polish Academy of Sciences, corresponding author), Bettina Bruns (Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary European Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-2790 • E-ISSN: 1478-2804 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14782804.2026.2701967 |
| OpenAlex | W7168167880 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 35 |
This article examines how Poland and Germany, despite implementing structurally similar reforms in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, articulate divergent cultural understandings of defence and security. Using the concept of security imaginaries – the shared meanings through which societies interpret international security – we compare two formations central to the return of territorial defence: Poland’s Territorial Defence Forces (TDF) and Germany’s Territorial Reserves and Homeland Security program (TR/HS). Through qualitative content analysis of their public communication, we analyse how these institutions construct narratives around identity, history, allies, threats, and defence practices. Our findings show that the TDF draw on heroic, resistance-based traditions rooted in Poland’s national-military mythos, while TR/HS reflect Germany’s post-heroic military culture and aversion to militarised nationalism. Both formations portray themselves as citizen-soldier forces bridging military and civilian spheres, yet they serve distinct symbolic functions: the TDF enact a frontline state identity, while TR/HS affirm Germany’s role as a NATO hub. This divergence does not preclude convergence, but suggests it unfolds through complementary, nationally embedded interpretations of security, underscoring the value of interpretive approaches for understanding how imaginaries shape defence practices within NATO and the EU.
Border Security · Bridging (networking) · Construct (python library) · Divergence (linguistics) · German · Homeland · Narrative · State (computer science) · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Peacebuilding and International Security
Narrative Imagination and Everyday Life
Cultural pragmatics
Germany and the Use of Force
Cultures of Antimilitarism
Constructing the Military Hero
Reserve forces and the transformation of British military organisation
Lessons (to be) learned? Germany’s Zeitenwende and European security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Civil–Military Relations in Poland after 1989
The Security Imaginary
Reproducing the military and heteropatriarchal normal
When Legacies Meet Policies
The Illusion of Germany’s Zeitenwende
Security through emotions
Imitation and Its Discontents
Between ambitions and financial constraints
Political Narratives / Narrations of the Political
A ritual approach to deterrence
Constructing National Interests
Interaction Ritual Chains
Towards a new German military identity? Change and continuity of military representations of self and other(s) in Germany
The Military And the Family As Greedy Institutions
The Swedish Reserve Officer
Reserve Soldiers as Transmigrants
The Narrative Organization of Collective Memory
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |