| This dissertation seeks to answer two major questions. First, while the post-cold war international security environment for Europe has changed radically since 1989, why has the armored vehicle sector of the British, French and German defense industry changed relatively little? Second, why has this comparatively limited post-cold war defense industrial restructuring process taken a divergent path in each country?; Two answers which traditionally explain this restricted defense industrial response to the much altered post-cold war security environment do not readily explain this apparent paradox. The first, concerning the prerogative of state sovereignty and independent military capability, and the second, alluding to the smaller development costs of this relatively low technology defense industrial sector, do not fully explain this contradiction.; This study instead has identified five factors or necessary conditions that must be present in a state's political economy in order for this restructuring process to be successfully concluded. These conditions are: private ownership of defense firms, private capital and flexible labor markets, a profitable scale of production, nondiversified defense firms, and an active state defense industrial policy. Of these necessary conditions, private ownership of the defense firms in the sector appears to be the most critical to the success of this process.; This comparative analysis of the post-cold war transition of the armored vehicle defense industrial sector in Britain, France and Germany probes an area that has been relatively untouched compared to contemporary research on the European defense aerospace and electronics sectors. Additionally, it is the first major study of this segment of the defense industry which is grounded in a comparative political economic framework. The findings of this research have policy implications in Western Europe for the retention of defense industrial capabilities and skilled jobs, the preservation of sufficient arms export controls, and improvement of cooperation through international security regimes. |
