At a Crossroads: German and American Security Policies in Response to China’s Rise

This thesis examines the influence of strategic culture on United States and German security policies towards the People’s Republic of China between 2016 and 2024 by investigating 20th- and 21st- century strategic cultural developments in both countries and observing their influence on contemporary national security decision making. Adopting a constructivist perspective, this study finds that Germany and the United States’ China policies are influenced by fundamentally different perceptions of the way in which the PRC threatens their relative power positions and role perceptions in global affairs, with these perceptions motivated by divergent strategic cultures and further influenced by unique economic considerations. Whereas strategic cultural influences have encouraged American leaders to prioritize preemptive responses to potential threats and seek to maintain a US-dominated international order, they have predisposed German decision makers to favor economic cooperation and place reduced emphasis on security obstacles outside the European continent.