International Collaboration in Armaments Production: A Second-Best Solution
Why do states collaborate in the production of advanced weaponry? Under what conditions do such collaborative arrangements succeed? These are questions of both theoretical importance and policy relevance. From a theoretical perspective, the issue of interstate collaboration is among the most prominent concerns of research in international political economy. 1 In the policy realm, the costs and benefits associated with armaments collaboration have been widely debated, as exemplified by the recent controversy over the FSX, a Japanese jet fighter that will be built using technology and systems integration techniques purchased from the American firm, General Dynamics.2 In this article I argue that collaborative arrangements for the production of complex weapons systems represent a second-best solution to the problem of defense acquisition. Such arrangements reflect the desire of states to maintain domestic military-industrial capacity on the one hand, while incorporating capital and technology from abroad on the other. In short, collaboration represents a