Martin Chovančík and Oldřich Krpec in Defence and Peace Economics: Defence Industry as a “Developmental Enclave” in Central and Eastern Europe
Defence industries in Europe come in all varieties—and Central and Eastern Europe has a major role to play in Europe’s defence future.
In their new article in Defence and Peace Economics, Martin Chovančík and Oldřich Krpec uncover the predominant political-economic logic shaping the region’s defence sectors: states deliberately use the defence industry as a sovereign, protected enclave to escape economic dependency that characterises much of their civilian economies.
The authors conceptualize this as the “Inverse DME model.” Comparing Czechia, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden, they argue that defence protectionism is not a temporary political reflex but a long-term developmental strategy: defence-sector exemptions allow states to treat the industry as a sovereign enclave for building domestic capabilities and reducing economic dependency.
The full article is available here .
