EUROPEAN SECURITY, STRATEGIC CULTURE AND DEFENCE INDUSTRY

POLI357

Course Code: POLI357
Semester: -
Theory+Practice: 3 + 0
ECTS: 5

Course Type

Elective Course

Course Level

Bachelor's Degree

Year of Study

Semester

ECTS

Name of Lecturer(s)

Instructor Mahmut Şener

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

Explain the ?defense industry dimension? of the European security architecture, including its historical and institutional development.
Apply the concept of strategic culture to the analysis of European security and the defense industry.
Evaluate NATO?EU relations and debates on European strategic autonomy.
Analyze how different strategic cultures?through the examples of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Türkiye?influence defense industry preferences and, consequently, security policies.
Prepare academic case analyses, policy briefs, and short research reports.

Mode of Delivery

Face to face

Prerequisites

Recommended Optional Programme Components

No recommended optional programme components.

Course Description

This course aims to examine the transformation of the European security architecture within the framework of strategic culture, defense industry institutions, NATO-EU relations, and debates on strategic autonomy. The course covers the EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), NATO-EU relations, European strategic autonomy, defense industrial integration, corporate mergers, joint production programs, strategic technologies, and supply chain vulnerabilities. Through the cases of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Türkiye, the effects of differences in national strategic cultures on defense industry preferences, military technology investments, alliance relations, and European defense integration are analyzed. The recent rearmament of Europe following the Russia?Ukraine War, the need for ammunition and air defense, NATO?s transformation, competition in critical technologies, and strategic dependencies constitute the contemporary dimension of the course. Within this framework, the course evaluates European defense integration not merely as an institutional or economic process, but as a political and strategic field of transformation shaped by national strategic cultures, sovereignty sensitivities, alliance preferences, and defense industry interests.

Course Contents

WEEK	TOPICS
1^st Week	Why Should European Security Be Studied Together with Defence Industry?
2^nd Week	Strategic Culture: Concepts, Approaches and European Security
3^rd Week	European Security from the Cold War to Maastricht & From Saint-Malo to Lisbon: EU Security and Defence Policy
4^th Week	NATO-EU Relations and the Debate on Strategic Autonomy
5^th Week	The Fragmented Structure of the European Defence Industry
6^th Week	France: Strategic Autonomy, Statism and Defence Industry
7^th Week	Midterm Exam
8^th Week	Germany: Normative Constraints, Multilateralism and Defence Policy & The United Kingdom: Atlanticism, NATO Priority and Defence Industry
9^th Week	European Defence Industry Cases I: BAE Systems and Airbus/EADS
10^th Week	European Defence Industry Cases II: Thales and MBDA
11^th Week	The Russia-Ukraine War and European Rearmament
12^th Week	NATO and Its Position in the European Security Architecture & Critical Technologies, Supply Chains and Strategic Dependencies
13^th Week	Presentations
14^th Week	Presentations

Recommended or Required Reading

Andersson, J. J., & Britz, M. (2025). The European Union?s role in European defence industry policy. Defence Studies, 25(2), 322-341. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14702436.2025.2472694
Andersson, J. J. (2023). Building Weapons Together (or Not): How to strengthen the European defence industry. European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS). http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep54956
Andersson, J. J. (2015). European defence collaboration. Back to the future, Brief, 19. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep06830.pdf
Angelov, K. O. (2015). The integration role of european defense procurement in achieving a more competitive and stronger european defense equipment market. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. https://calhoun.nps.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b9cff73d-b80a-410c-a4a4-b55f918e143b/content.
Bailes, A. J. K. (2005). The European security strategy: An evolutionary history. SIPRI Policy Paper, 10, Stockholm. https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/files/PP/SIPRIPP10.pdf
Barmeyer, C., & U. Mayrhofer. (2008). The contribution of intercultural management to the success of international mergers and acquisitions: An analysis of the EADS group. International Business Review, 17(1), 28-38.
Becker, S. (2013). Germany and war: Understanding strategic culture under the Merkel government. L?institut de recherche strategique de l?Ecole militaire (IRSEM), 13, 1-80. https://www.irsem.fr/storage/file_manager_files/2025/03/2013-9-paris-paper-becker-germany.pdf
Bellais, R. (2022). MBDA?s industrial model and European defence. Defence and Peace Economics, 33 (7), 2022, 876?893. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10242694.2021.1926176.
Biava, A., Drent, M., & Herd, G. P. (2011). Characterizing the European Union's strategic culture: An analytical framework. JCMS: journal of common market studies, 49(6), 1227-1248.
Biehl, H. & B. Giegerich & A. Jonas. (2013). Strategic cultures in Europe: Security and defence policies across the continent, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 1?407.
Bois, C. D., & Buts, C. (2024). Introduction to the special issue `spend more and better?. Defence and Peace Economics, 35(4), 401-403.
Biscop, S. (2024) European defence: No zeitenwende yet, Defence and Peace Economics, 35:4, 516-520, DOI: 10.1080/10242694.2023.2201739
Briani, V. (2013). The development of a European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB). European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defence, June 2013, 1-99. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2013/433838/EXPO-SEDE_ET%282013%29433838_EN.pdf
Brockmann, S. & F. Trommler eds. (1996). Revisiting zero hour 1945: The emergence of postwar German culture. The Johns Hopkins University, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, 1. https://americangerman.institute/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/brockmann.pdf
Brzoska, M. (2014). Defence industry restructuring and consolidation in Europe. In Andrew T. H. Tan (Ed.), The global arms trade - A handbook (pp. 221-234). Routledge.
Börzel, T. A., & T. Risse. (2000). When Europe hits home: Europeanization and domestic change. EUI Working Paper RSC, 56. European University Institute, Florence, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. https://eiop.or.at/eiop/pdf/2000-015.pdf
Calcara, A., A. Gilli, and M. Gilli. 2023. Short-Term Readiness, Long-Term Innovation: The European Defence Industry in Turbulent Times. Defence Studies 23 (4): 626?643. https://doi.org/10.1080/14702436.2023.2277439.
Clapp, S. & M. Höflmayr . (2025). Building a common market for european defence. EPRS - European Parliamentary Research Service.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

Lecture
Discussion
Presentation

Assessment Methods and Criteria

	Quantity	Percentage (%)
Mid-term	1	30
Presentation of Case Study	1	20
Other	1	20
Total(%)		70
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%)		70
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%)		30
Total(%)		100

ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload

Activities	Quantity	Duration (Hour)	Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam	1	1	1
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work	15	3	45
Preparation for Final exam	1	35	35
Course hours	15	3	45
Preparation for Midterm exam	1	20	20
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam	1	1	1
Homework
Total Work Load			147
Total Work Load / 30 (h)			4.9
ECTS Credit of the Course			5

Language of Instruction

English

Work Placement(s)

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

	LO1	LO2	LO3	LO4	LO5
K1	X
K2	X
K3		X
K4					X
K5
K6
K7
K8			X
K9				X
K10			X	X
K11					X
K12		X	X
K13