Conclusion

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book reflects on the fundamental aspects of the concept, originally used to explain Soviet strategic preferences regarding nuclear weapons policy but later adopted by other scholars with widely different agendas. It also discusses how strategic culture could expand as a research agenda through a more systematic application to other areas of IR. The chapter identifies different policy options that could have emerged under their particular strategic scenarios. It moves the discussion away from war and peace—by all accounts elements of the more traditional strategic culture agenda—toward a different domain of statecraft: political economy. Strategic culture has enormous potential as an instrument of policy change when the role that individuals play as embodiments of a specific strategic culture is emphasized, as well as when their influences and socialization processes are scrutinized closely.