Returnees from wars and violent conflicts belong to their societies as much as any other distinct social group. In an age of asymmetric warfare and highly ambiguous profiles of combat, the veterans’ position is changing and is less clear than in the past. Veterans are either marginalized or considered a social and political precarity; their self-perception and identity are often burdened with uncertain return into their societies.

This volume brings together experts on veteran studies from various academic disciplines. Their views present a variety of sociological, anthropological, and military aspects on the lives and environments of contemporary veteran cultures.

Based on findings from the first contemporary congress on returnees from diverse wars and interventions held in Germany in July 2016, the contributions here compare the situations of veterans and their perception by society in different countries. The main focus falls on the so far under-researched German “particular path” into the normalcy of producing and then having veterans who, as a new, emerging social group, start to build up their own associations and culture, and gain political and socio-cultural power of interpretation. This process forms a contrast to those veteran cultures that can build on long and seemingly less broken traditions.