Isomorphic Spillover and Its Limits: The Institutionally Constrained Defence Industrial Policy of the European Union
Journal: Politics and Governance
Year: 2026

Starting from the mid-2010s, the European Union (EU) and, in particular, its supranational executive, the European Commission, started to play a role in defence industrial policy that is completely unprecedented. The Commission now supervises a whole array of financial instruments and can use them to nudge member states to develop certain sectors and capabilities. Combining insights from neo-functionalist European integration theory and neo-realist international relations, this article devises t