Kerry Longhurst 
Germany and the use of force [EPUB ebook] 

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. While developments in the 1990s saw Germany move away from its rigidly prohibitive stance towards the use of force, Berlin’s policy in the war on terrorism suggested that Germany may be retreating into a new form of self-imposed restraint. In this first major English language study of German security policy after Iraq, Kerry Longhurst considers the evolution of Germany’s peculiar approach to the use of force after the Cold War through the conceptual prism of strategic culture. The timeliness of this volume brings with it fresh analysis of the origins and substance of Germany’s strategic culture, which the author subsequently explores in a contemporary context against the background of the changing role of the Bundeswehr from 1990-2003. The book also provides unique and in-depth analysis of Germany’s troubled efforts at defense sector reform in the 1990s and considers the complex politics surrounding conscription.

Table of Content

Introduction – The past as prologue 1. On strategic culture 2. Stunde Null and the the construction of West German strategic culture 3. Germany and The use of force I – adjusting to life after the Cold War 4. The momentum of change, Germany and the use of force II – from Afghanistan to Iraq 5. Redesigning the Bundeswehr 6. The endurance of conscription Conclusions Bibliography Index

About the author

Kerry Longhurst is Lecturer in German and European Security at the Institute for German Studies and Assistant Director of the European Research Institute at the University of Birmingham