Geography, alliances, and European military spending after 2014 and 2022: a retest
Journal: Open Science Framework
Year: 2025

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its intervention in Donbas in 2014 fundamentally challenged assumptions about the stability of Europe’s post-Cold War security order and prompted renewed attention to conventional military threats. Previous research by the authors found that only about one-third of European states increased defense spending after 2014, and that physical distance from Russia was the only robust predictor of variation across countries. This paper reexamines those findings in light