Structure, Culture, and Threat: Combinative Approach on Alliance Behaviour of Germany and the United Kingdom
Lankinen, Juho (2025)
Lankinen, Juho
2025
Master's Programme in Security and Safety Management
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-06-23
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202506237380
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202506237380
Tiivistelmä
This thesis examines the alliance behaviour of Germany and the United Kingdom. The changing security environment has required states to reassess their security strategies, including alliance behaviour. At the same time two prominent theoretical traditions of international relations, neorealism and strategic culture, are stuck in a debate on the primacy of structural or cultural approaches.
The thesis addresses the ongoing theoretical debate between materialist and culturalist explanations by combining neorealist balance-of-threat theory and strategic culture to form a combinative analytical model. Using security strategy documents from 2023, the thesis analyses how alliance behaviour is formed through also examining threat perceptions and strategic preferences. The analysis consists of balance-of-threat theory as the primary framework, and strategic culture as a supplementary approach. Germany and the United Kingdom, as key actors of regional and global security as well as with distinct strategic cultures, provide a valuable case for an eclectic approach.
The analysis found that the perceptions of threats most important to the United Kingdom and Germany are primarily driven by structural factors. Similarly, strategic preferences were mostly shaped by structural considerations. Based on the strategies the two countries expressed balancing behaviour against the threats of Russia and China, with strategic culture as a contextual lens providing insight into the domestic factors behind these policy orientations. The results provide strong implications on the scientific and practical value of multiparadigmatic approaches. A combinative approach offers a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of alliance behaviour by accounting for multiple epistemological and ontological premises in one analysis. The thesis suggests further eclectic research to foster more nuanced analysis and reflect the complexity of state behaviour and the security environment.
The thesis addresses the ongoing theoretical debate between materialist and culturalist explanations by combining neorealist balance-of-threat theory and strategic culture to form a combinative analytical model. Using security strategy documents from 2023, the thesis analyses how alliance behaviour is formed through also examining threat perceptions and strategic preferences. The analysis consists of balance-of-threat theory as the primary framework, and strategic culture as a supplementary approach. Germany and the United Kingdom, as key actors of regional and global security as well as with distinct strategic cultures, provide a valuable case for an eclectic approach.
The analysis found that the perceptions of threats most important to the United Kingdom and Germany are primarily driven by structural factors. Similarly, strategic preferences were mostly shaped by structural considerations. Based on the strategies the two countries expressed balancing behaviour against the threats of Russia and China, with strategic culture as a contextual lens providing insight into the domestic factors behind these policy orientations. The results provide strong implications on the scientific and practical value of multiparadigmatic approaches. A combinative approach offers a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of alliance behaviour by accounting for multiple epistemological and ontological premises in one analysis. The thesis suggests further eclectic research to foster more nuanced analysis and reflect the complexity of state behaviour and the security environment.