From Guilt to Responsibility and Beyond

From Guilt to Responsibility and Beyond tackles the ever-controversial topic of German security and defence policy from the perspective of strategic culture. In particular, it describes the way in which German strategic culture – the ways of thinking and acting in terms of peace and war – has gradually changed after the end of the Cold War. The book delivers a comprehensive picture of the evolution of German strategic culture from the end of the Second World War to present times with a focus on Post-Cold War events. It also discusses hitherto unexplored ways and methods of how to study continuity and change in strategic culture e. g. through counterfactual thought experiments. The book offers a novel scientific-philosophical take on strategic culture based on Critical Realism and concludes that a combination of present and past experiences of warfare is one of the key generative mechanisms in facilitating strategic cultural change.