Research

Dissertation project: Buy or Build? How States Source Their Military Might

My dissertation explains how states choose between buying and building their military equipment. It argues that while capability gaps with rivals and supplier reliability define a state’s optimal procurement strategy for a military capability, these strategies are most easily identified and adopted by states when external threats are clear, because threat clarity creates elite consensus and suppresses domestic political competition. By contrast, in low-threat environments, uncertainty about the security environment and the long time horizons of defense procurement allow interest-group pressures and strategic-cultural preferences to shape acquisition decisions.