Arming Europe – reconceptualising European defence production

Europe is rearming. A process that has laid dormant for the better part of three decades – within export oriented national policy and market-regulating European Union (EU) agency – has been jump started by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The significance of Europe’s departure from its primary peace project identity is hard to gauge based on rapid decisions and a flurry of initiatives. Instead, our central question asks how Europe is reconceptualising its defence production at a fundamental level – changing the definition of the role, purpose, agency, and remit of defence production. We attack this question through interrogating shifts in the conceptualisations of production itself, but also of involved actors, institutions, and the balance of this evolving “coordinated sovereignty”. Through this introduction to the special issue, we identify the key drivers of this reconceptualisation, demarcate the main processes, and structure their impact on Europe’s future re-armament.