Rusty guns and buttery soldiers: unemployment and the domestic origins of defense spending

Abstract Scholars and practitioners continue to debate transatlantic burden sharing, which has implications for broader questions of collective action international organizations. Little research, however, analyzed domestic institutional drivers burden-sharing behavior; even less disaggregated defense spending measure sharing more precisely. This paper enhances understanding the relationship between national political economies shifting, operationalizing shifting as extent a country limits or decreases expenditures, while at same time favoring personnel over equipment modernization readiness in composition budgets. Why do countries choose allocate resources personnel, rather than modernization? I find that governments slightly decrease top-line response unemployment much substantial amounts within budgets from expenditures into personnel. research highlights intimate connection Europe’s economic fortunes, security, North Atlantic Treaty Organization European Union – particular interest pandemic buffets economy. It also points policy analysts toward factors amenable decisions structural variables generally associated with bridging significant gaps economics, security studies, comparative