“Backfilling” difficulties: Assessment and Remediation

Russia’s bellicist military strategy in near-abroad and beyond had already reached internationally threatening proportions throughout the past decade. It took a turn for the worse with the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that upended the post-Cold War peace in Europe. Several Atlantic Alliance members in Eastern Europe were now under direct threat, many of them without sufficient military capabilities to rely on against this Russian threat, despite years of warnings from NATO and the U.S.A.

This current strategic environment raises many questions in defence economics and international relations on the preparedness of countries at domestic level but also through the Atlantic Alliance. First, it is important to understand the state of armed forces, and how defence efforts are also defined as a response to international tensions. Second, we need to go beyond the capability-based approach to look at how dedicated resources are used and if they are able to deliver the expected military effects at domestic and at collective levels. Third, the question of incentives in order to better collaborate inside the Atlantic Alliance and through NATO can be raised.

Regarding these and related other questions, defence economists can provide useful assessments and recommendations. This is the reason why we propose to organise this workshop on NATO countries’ military capabilities and defence policies. It aims to gather expertise and competence from the academic and professional communities and deliver analyses that can support decision-makers in defence-related public policies in a transatlantic perspective.

The themes to be addressed in Bordeaux include, specifically, the following:

·       Sharable ammunition stocks

·       International collaboration on ammunitions, including with worldwide democratic allies

·       Stockpile replenishment and management

·       Manufacturing capabilities in artillery batteries and shells

·       Industrial and financial capacity necessary to ramp up production

·       New NATO stockpiling targets and industrial capability implications

·       Efficiency and speed of supply chains for ammunitions

·       Measures to accelerate innovation in defense

Other issues that might be addressed in the Workshop series may include threats to the stability of NATO countries, their resilience and response capacities, industrial capabilities and international collaborative efforts, cyber and hybrid war defences, and energy security problems.

If it is as successful and useful as we expect, this workshop could represent the first of a series of NATO-related workshops in defence economics.

In order to enlarge the audience, we expect to publish the proceeds in an outlet like the Cambridge University Press’ Cambridge Elements Defence Economics series (https://www.cambridge.org/core/publications/elements/defence-economics) or in a special issue of the journal Economics of Peace & Security, or a similar publication.

This first edition of the Workshop will be hosted by the University of Bordeaux on 12-13 June 2024. Please contact one of the organising committee members if you want to participate.

Organising committee: Jean Belin (Bordeaux University; jean.belin@u-bordeaux.fr), Renaud Bellais (Grenoble Alps University; renaud.bellais@mbda-systems.com) & Ugurhan Berkok (Royal Military College of Canada & Queen’s University at Kingston; Ugurhan.Berkok@rmc.ca; UgurhanBerkok@queensu.ca).

Further information and updates at https://www.defenceandsecurityeconomicsworkshop.ca/