SIPRI mourns the passing of the Institute’s former Director Dr Walther Stützle (Germany), who died on 8 August 2016, age 74.
Dr Walther Stützle was the Director of SIPRI from 1986 to 1991. Before and after joining SIPRI, Stützle held several positions at the German Ministry of Defense, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik). He later became a correspondent for the Stuttgarter Zeitung and the editor-in-chief of Der Tagesspiegel.
‘It was during Walther’s tenure as Director of SIPRI that the end of the cold war and the dissolution of the Soviet Union changed global and European security fundamentally and forever’, remembers his colleague Ian Anthony, Director of the SIPRI European Security Programme. ‘In thinking about the implications of the rapid changes, Walther was always guided by three convictions that are worth recalling: the need for Europeans to take responsibility for shaping their own security environment; the importance of active United States engagement in Europe; and the imperative to ensure that Russia was integrated in a European security system in a meaningful way. He was rightfully critical of approaches that neglected any of them.’
SIPRI Director Dan Smith says of Stützle’s passing ‘Walther was a much respected voice in German and European Security Policy circles for decades. He led SIPRI at a critical time for Europe and I honour his legacy to SIPRI and he has my great respect for all his achievements.’
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SIPRI published two books by Stützle: The ABM Treaty: To Defend or Not to Defend? edited by Walther Stützle, Bhupendra Jasani, Regina Cowen Karp (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1987) and Germany and Europe in Transition, edited by Adam Daniel Rotfeld and Walther Stützle (Oxford University Press: Oxford, February 1991).