Rafale: Defeating the Austerians of the warfare state

I am delighted to inform you that my new article has appeared in the scientific journal European Policy Analysis (early view so far).

Title

Defeating the Austerians of the warfare state: French arms policy through the lens of the Programmatic Action Framework

Abstract

This article contributes to the development of the Programmatic Action Framework (PAF) based on the case study of the procurement of the French Rafale fighter jet rather than the American F-18 by the French government in the 1980s. This decision-making dilemma is explained by revealing the competition between two “programmatic cliques.” The “sovereignist” programmatic clique that defends the French option embodies the Custodians of the nation-state. The “liberal” programmatic clique that supports the American alternative represents the Austerians of the nation-state. The defeat of the Austerians of the French nation warfare state is explained by the ties weakness available to the liberal programmatic clique at the political level of decision making. To this end, 89 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the political-military and industrial arms actors.

Keywords

civil-military relations, arms policy, France, political economy, Programmatic Action Framework (PAF), Rafale