The drivers of military strategic reform in the face of economic crisis and changing warfare

Project rationale and aims

This project allows us to test a series of conceptual and explanatory models that help answer the central research question: What are the drivers of strategic reform in contemporary militaries in Europe?

We ask whether states will be more affected by the changing financial resources, change in geo-political climate, modern changes in military doctrine, or combat experience.

We aim to test the hypotheses that result from this preliminary identification of strategic drivers.

Project outputs and impacts

The project will complete over 100 interviews across a range of comparative, nation-state case studies.

Chosen case studies include:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Italy
• Spain
• Norway
• Poland

Furthermore, the project will conduct interviews at the NATO’s Alliance Command Operations in Mons, Belgium as well as the Alliance Command Transformation Headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
Finally, the project will rely on defence economics data from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the Stockholm International Politics Research Institute (SIPRI).

Find out more about this project