The thesis sets out to mobilise the concept of strategic culture as a tool to understand German security policy. The main assumptions behind the concept of strategic culture are that security policies emanate from collectively held beliefs and values relating to the use of force and that these values and beliefs emerge over-time and are shaped through formative periods and critical junctures, especially at times of war. Building upon these key assumptions the thesis moves to identify the antecedents of (West) German strategic and then to construct a framework for analysis to apply to aspects of post-Cold War security policy. Three central research questions guide the conduct of the study: What is German strategic culture? Has it changed through the ending of the Cold War? And How does it impact upon behaviour? The thesis holds that Germany has a distinct strategic culture, which emerged in the wake of the Second W orId War and acquired substance and form through the rearming of West Germany in the 1950's. This strategic culture, it is argued, incorporates three types of elements. At its core are beliefs and values relating to the use of force that form its basal fabric, stemming out of this are a range of dispositions or 'security policy standpoints' that actively relate core values to the third element of strategic culture the observable policy manifestations. The thesis identifies (West) German strategic culture through an examination of aspects of the rearming of West Germany which is then presented in the form of a full anatomy of the strategic culture and its constituent parts. Subsequent to this the thesis tackles the issue of change after the Cold War and the relationship between strategic culture and security policy behaviour. These two questions are dealt with through an examination of the transformation of the Bundeswehr since 1990, together with a case study of the· practice of compulsory military service, a policy that has endured since the end of the Cold War. Through its investigation the thesis argues that German strategic culture has persisted after the ending of the Cold War and has come to playa decisive role in shaping security policy behaviour
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:369720 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Longhurst, Kerry Anne |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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