Strategy and Defence Budgeting in the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

Studies of defence budgeting are necessarily works of accounting. That is, they must deal with the complicated issues of defining ‘defence expenditure’ or describing levels, trends, or rates of growth, especially in comparison to other states or to some absolute standard such as NATO’s 3 per cent guideline. Other studies seek to discover a ‘fair’ or at least tolerable ‘sharing of the burden’ among allies. Although it is not always explicit, the guiding assumption of such works is that strategic choice and military capability are reflected in the level, growth or distribution of defence spending itself.¹