Band 6 / 2019 Band 6 / 2019 More than fi fty years ago the fi rst Austrian contingent was sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of the around 70,000 Austrian soldiers however, were repeatedly abroad. The thesis will raise the problematic situation that there are not Multilingualism enough linguistic resources within the Austrian Armed Forces in order to carry out the ambitious goals, both in the bilateral and multilateral context. It should offer problem-solving and recom- as an intercultural phenomenon mendations to enable military personnel to be able to interact linguistically and culturally successfully in different scenarios. in the framework of Peace Along with the surveys and the statistical evaluation of the ques- tions given by a questionnaire on language skills, language trai- support operations ning and intercultural aspects, combined with the refl ection of the own foreign assignment experience, should provide an em- pirical confi rmation of the measures taken to the given state- ments and the theoretical relationship. Multilingualism as an intercultural phenomenon Multilingualism as an intercultural support of Peace operations in the framework ISBN: 978-3-903121-64-5 Josef Ernst 6/19 Sonderpublikation der Ernst Landesverteidigungsakademie MULTILINGUALISM AS AN INTERCULTURAL PHENOMENON IN THE FRAMEWORK OF PEACE SUPPORT OPERATIONS Josef ERNST VIENNA, April 2019 "To understand somebody better leads to a better understanding!" (Josef Ernst, 2007) Table of Contents Foreword ............................................................................................. 7 Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 Peace Support Operations and Austria's Participation .............................................................................. 45 2.1 Definition and type of mission/operations ..................................... 45 2.2 Interoperability as the basis for international cooperation .............. 58 2.3 Legal basis for the participation of Austria .................................... 64 2.4 Austria's concrete contributions abroad ......................................... 69 2.5 Summary ...................................................................................... 84 Chapter 3 Intercultural competence in a military environment ..... 87 3.1 Interculturality and its determination ............................................. 90 3.2 The three-dimensional model of multilingualism and intercultural competence ............................................................. 109 3.3 The acquisition of intercultural competence in the Austrian Armed Forces ............................................................................. 116 3.4 Intercultural Language Training – is this really new? .................. 126 3.5 Summary .................................................................................... 129 Chapter 4 Multilingualism and its implications in the Austrian Armed Forces ........................................................................... 131 4.1 Multilingualism and its determination ......................................... 132 4.2 The "multilingual" army of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ...... 137 4.3 Multilingual forces – a possible comparison with Austria? .......... 143 4.3.1 Switzerland ....................................................................... 143 4.3.2 Belgium ............................................................................ 144 4.3.3 Canada .............................................................................. 147 4.3.4 The former Czechoslovakia ............................................... 149 3 4.4 Summary ................................................................................... 150 Chapter 5 Influencing factors of multilingualism and intercultural competence in the Austrian Armed Forces .......152 5.1 National civilian factors ............................................................. 153 5.1.1 The national civilian language policy ................................ 153 5.1.2 The civilian education system in Austria ........................... 157 5.2 International organisations ......................................................... 163 5.2.1 The European Union and its language policy..................... 163 5.2.2 The European Union under the Common Foreign and Security Policy ................................................................. 168 5.2.3 NATO and the programme "Partnership for Peace" ........... 173 5.2.4 The United Nations ........................................................... 177 5.2.5 The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe .............................................................................. 180 5.3 National military factors ............................................................. 183 5.3.1 The national military language policy ............................... 183 5.3.2 Austria's Security Strategy ................................................ 185 5.3.3 The Military Strategic Concept 2015 ................................. 187 5.3.4 The White Book 2012 ....................................................... 188 5.3.5 The Partial Strategy Defence Policy 2014 ......................... 190 5.3.6 Guidelines for languages at the military ............................ 192 5.3.7 Comments on the language policy in the Armed Forces .... 202 5.3.8 The Defence budget .......................................................... 204 5.3.9 The Civil Service Law ...................................................... 208 5.4 Other factors .............................................................................. 209 5.4.1 Transformation of the Armed Forces ................................. 210 5.4.2 Neighbouring countries of Austria .................................... 210 5.4.3 Type of missions............................................................... 211 4 5.4.4 The local population in the area of operations .................... 213 5.5 Summary .................................................................................... 215 Chapter 6 Empirical Study ............................................................ 222 6.1 Epistemological interest .............................................................. 222 6.2 Research Approach ..................................................................... 223 6.3 Research methodology: Questionnaire survey ............................. 224 6.4 Structure of the questionnaire ..................................................... 225 6.5 Description of the Sample ........................................................... 226 6.6 Results ....................................................................................... 227 6.6.1 General ............................................................................. 227 6.6.2 Linguistic area................................................................... 233 6.6.3 Intercultural area ............................................................... 240 6.6 Summary .................................................................................... 244 Chapter 7 Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations ........ 245 7.1 New scientific results .................................................................. 247 7.2 Recommendation 1: Introduction of a Military Language and Intercultural Portfolio ................................................................. 250 7.2.1 Civilian Portfolio............................................................... 250 7.2.2 Military Portfolio .............................................................. 251 7.3 Recommendation 2: Institutionalizing of linguistic support at the strategic, operational and tactical level .................................. 256 7.4 Recommendation 3: Establishment of "Linguistic Reserves" ....... 262 7.5 Recommendation 4: Establishment of regional intercultural and language training modules .......................................................... 269 7.6 Recommendation 5: Creating level-based training structures of intercultural competence ............................................................. 271 7.7 Recommended Directions for Future Research ............................ 276 7.8 Summary .................................................................................... 277 5 Abbreviations ..................................................................................283 Tables and Graphics .......................................................................294 Literature ........................................................................................296 Primary references ............................................................................. 296 Secondary references ......................................................................... 298 Internet references.............................................................................. 308 Author .............................................................................................311 Summary .........................................................................................313 Annex (Questionnaire) ....................................................................315 6 Foreword There are three personal operating areas that have aroused my interests for a long time, finally persuading me to deal with this topic more closely: Firstly, there is a direct connection to my profession as a member of the Language Institute of the Austrian Armed Forces