ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the decision processes which are largely reflective of the modern centre-left strand within German strategic culture, which holds norms that are more conducive to the use of military force and enhanced domestic security measures than the more orthodox left-wing strand. But which also conform less to demands by Western allies and the domestic security bureaucracy than the more conservative right-wing strand. Looking at the trajectory of German state behaviour regarding the use of force since 1990, it is tempting to conclude, as many scholars have, that the country underwent a process of normalisation'. On 16 November, more than a month after the initial attacks on Afghanistan and as coalition forces were about to drive the Taliban out of Kabul, the Bundestag eventually authorised the deployment of 3,900 soldiers to various missions at various locations of OEF in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
