Germany and the Use of Force

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.