Sociotechnical Imaginaries of EU Defence: The Past and the Future in the European Defence Fund

In this article we investigate how a particular vision of the future of EU defence has embedded itself into different arenas of EU politics over decades, and is currently gaining material expression in the European Defence Fund (EDF). Through an historiographic approach, we traced the development of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of common market studies Vol. 59; no. 6; pp. 1458 - 1474
Main Authors Martins, Bruno Oliveira, Mawdsley, Jocelyn
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.11.2021
Subjects
Autonomy
Defense
Economic development
Economic growth
Economic research
European defence fund
Industrial policy
innovation policy
Innovations
R&D
Research & development
Science and technology
sociotechnical imaginaries
strategic autonomy
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In this article we investigate how a particular vision of the future of EU defence has embedded itself into different arenas of EU politics over decades, and is currently gaining material expression in the European Defence Fund (EDF). Through an historiographic approach, we traced the development of a particular narrative on security, innovation, research, and economic growth based on fears of technology gaps and dependence on the US, and a belief in the potential of military R&D to produce civilian benefits. We provide an alternative reading of the emergence of the EDF by drawing on literature within Science and Technology Studies, in particular the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries, to highlight wider socio‐political dimensions of defence technologies and expand debates on EU defence.
ISSN:0021-9886
1468-5965
DOI:10.1111/jcms.13197