Spain's strategic culture and the impact of NATO

Abstract

Strategic culture has been both lauded as an important analytical tool in explaining behavior, and disparaged as an explanation of last resort. Theorists of strategic culture hold that, in certain circumstances, persistent beliefs and behavior patterns may suggest probable responses to threats or opportunities. This thesis, an examination of recent Spanish history from a strategic culture perspective, supports the use of strategic culture as a reliable indicator of probable state actions, at times despite the rhetoric of the state's political leadership. Well established aspects of strategic culture appear to persist in the absence of a cataclysmic event capable of modifying the patterns and beliefs of the preceding system. Earring such a catastrophic event, a state is likely to act in accordance with its traditional strategic culture. The peaceful transition since 1975 from authoritarian to democratic rule, as well as security assurances from the United States since 1953, have kept Spain from experiencing a trauma powerful enough to fundamentally alter its strategic culture. Spain's problems in domestic politics, economics, and military and foreign affairs may be attributed to a difficult national democratization process as well as to a strategic culture of isolationism. Owing to these larger factors, membership in NATO has had little impact on Spain's strategic culture.