Introducing ARMCOL - a new data set on European armaments collaboration

The issue of European defence cooperation has received much public and academic attention since the end of the Cold War. In particular, the birth of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and later the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), has led to a marked increase in the number of studies published on the subject matter. However, while the focus of International Relations Theory and European Integration scholarship has been on the political process, the economic aspects of these developments have been largely neglected against early warnings. This is unfortunate, since many existing and planned military capabilities underpinning European defence have involved, and will in future increasingly involve, international collaboration in their development, production and maintenance. In fact, Europeans have worked together on a fair number of projects since the 1950s, but these have shown highly uneven records of success. Without understanding the determinants of these outcomes, however, the development towards a common European defence capability cannot be fully comprehended. This paper introduces a new data-set on collaborative armaments projects carried out between European governments since the 1960s. Variables contain relational data on all governmental and industrial partners involved, characteristics of the programme itself, and environmental factors. Their analyses will help academics to better understand the dynamics of European defence cooperation, and allow policy-makers to design better mechanisms for future projects.