“The Shorter the Range, the Deader the Germans”

Bahr, Egon

doi:10.13109/9783666300547.113

Cited by 2 publications

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“…The conservatives held a genuine concern about a nuclear war that would be fought out on the territories of the European allies while the superpowers' territories would remain sanctuaries, which led to increasing resentment against shorter-range nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. In the 1980s, Alfred Dregger, the chair of the conservative caucus in the Bundestag, and Egon Bahr, a former social democrat, coined the phrase "the shorter the range, the deader the Germans" (Bahr 2014, Elbe 2016). 3 This gave pointed expression to a German conservative version of "nuclear pacifism"the view that nuclear weapons were meant to prevent war and never to be used (Der Spiegel 1988).…”

Section: The German Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

German views on US nuclear weapons in Europe: public and elite perspectives

Onderčo

Smetana

2021

European Security

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Stationing of US nuclear weapons in Europe is a pillar of NATO deterrence. Despite their growing contestation, scholarly research on contemporary attitudes of both voters and political elites to the continued stationing of these weapons on their soil is lacking. We conducted original surveys of 2020 Germans and of 101 Bundestag members. Our results show scepticism about the military utility of US nuclear weapons in Germany, and aversion towards their use. At the same time, the results show a sizable support among both politicians and citizens for their removal from German territory as part of new nuclear arms control initiatives.

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Section: The German Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

German views on US nuclear weapons in Europe: public and elite perspectives

Onderčo

Smetana

2021

European Security

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Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

Onderčo

Étienne

Smetana

2022

Foreign Policy Analysis

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Does partisan ideology influence whether Europeans are willing to use nuclear weapons, and if so, how? The US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe have been at the core of European security since the Cold War, but we have still yet to learn what would make Europeans be willing to support their use. In this paper, we present the results of a survey, in which we asked citizens in Germany and the Netherlands about their views on the use of the US nuclear weapons stationed on their territory in four distinct scenarios. Our results indicate that voters of right-wing parties are more likely to approve of the use of nuclear weapons in both countries. There are, however, important differences between the two countries in terms of the degree to which the participants oppose the use of nuclear weapons. These results have implications for NATO's nuclear deterrence posture.

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“The Shorter the Range, the Deader the Germans”

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

German views on US nuclear weapons in Europe: public and elite perspectives

German views on US nuclear weapons in Europe: public and elite perspectives

Ideology and the Red Button: How Ideology Shapes Nuclear Weapons’ Use Preferences in Europe

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