Open research questions in Defense, Military, and Policy Studies
192 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,728 Defense, Military, and Policy Studies papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
To date, however, a nuanced understanding of the more granular effects of military aid on the recipient country has been hindered by a lack of data and a focus on the macro-level.
Foreign Military Training and Socialization: An Examination of Human Capital and Norm Transmission Between Allies · 2024 · DOIThe study notes that its findings are based on secondary data and may not reflect the actual capability ownership of the Indian Armed Forces. It also acknowledges that the distinction between indigenous production and capability ownership is not always clear-cut. The study highlights the need for further research on the outcomes of indigenisation initiatives.
Indigenisation of the Indian Armed Forces:Outcome-Based Evaluation of Perational and Lifecycle Self-Reliance (2014–2025) with Reference to Operation Sindoor · 2026 · DOIThe study identifies a gap in understanding the outcomes of indigenisation initiatives and the distinction between indigenous production and capability ownership. It notes that prior work has focused on production volume rather than capability depth. The study aims to address this gap by evaluating the reduction in operational dependence on foreign suppliers and the expansion of indigenous defence capabilities.
Indigenisation of the Indian Armed Forces:Outcome-Based Evaluation of Perational and Lifecycle Self-Reliance (2014–2025) with Reference to Operation Sindoor · 2026 · DOIEstonia's small population and geographic situation - The country's limited resources and inability to reform its military - Infighting among Northern European countries
The lack of adequate lessons learned by Estonia from World War I - The inability to forge appropriate alliances due to infighting among Northern European countries
The paper identifies a gap in the literature on the Thucydides Trap and its relevance to contemporary power transitions. The study highlights the need to reconsider traditional defense buildups.
A new Thucydides Trap? How traditional defense buildups can exacerbate contemporary power decline · 2026 · DOIFuture research should focus on the development of more accurate forecasting methods. The investigation of the impact of external support and internal structural reforms on the technological capability of a country is a potential direction for future research.
Prospects of Technological Breakthrough of Ukraine: Methods of Assessment and Comparative Analysis · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the research on the degradation of civil technological potential during active hostilities. There is a lack of studies on the prospects for a technological breakthrough in conditions of prolonged armed conflict.
Prospects of Technological Breakthrough of Ukraine: Methods of Assessment and Comparative Analysis · 2026 · DOIThe European Union faces challenges in providing defence as a public good due to the fragmentation of the defence industry and significant asymmetries in Member States' capabilities and expenditure. The absence of a unified approach to defence provision hinders the effective and efficient provision of defence.
The current definition of war is no longer sufficient to capture the complexity of modern warfare. There is a need for a new measure to quantify war severity.
Why Are Wars Less Deadly? Analysis of Precision Warfare and Military Economic Expenditure · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the literature regarding the impact of a protracted low-intensity conflict with CRINK on European allies' preparedness. The study notes that the entire nature of hybrid warfare on allies is changing, creating a need for new research and analysis.
Our analysis features a number of limitations that need to be kept in mind when interpreting the presented results. The modelling framework underlying our empirical analysis allows us to explore the medium- to long-run impacts of trade policy changes on prices, production, consumption and investment of countries through the reorganisation of the GSCs they are involved in. While the employed comparative static analysis captures broad economy-wide linkages, it assumes markets adjust to a new equilibrium – a discrete event, which may not reflect among others wartime disruptions. Moreover, as noted in Sect. " The EU-EMS model", our modelling framework omits standard short-run business-cycle effects, implying that it does not capture recessionary dynamics like demand shocks or unemployment surges. In this sense, the immediate impact of the simulated systemic shock could be underestimated in our results. A promising area for future research would be to investigate the trade channel of geoeconomic fragmentation by developing a dynamic continuous time model with rational forwardlooking agents that would capture wartime disruptions and short-run business-cycle effects. The second model-related limitation concerns the empirical representation of inter-industry differences in terms of input and output substitutability, particularly in the short- and medium-run. Indeed, input substitution possibilities vary greatly between and within sectors, with some critical components like rare earth metals or specialised electronics having no ready alternatives outside CRINK in the short-run. While the model captures asymmetry between short- and long-run substitution possibilities (see Fig. 1), investigating inter-sectoral differences in substitution possibilities at a 3 or 4 digit level of trade data is a promising area for future research. Such a disaggregated analysis would reveal the true heterogeneity both in the input and output side and potential reveal critical vulnerabilities. Our modelling choice – to assume a uniform elasticity of substitution within the broader defence sector – is driven entirely by the limited data availability. Third, the model is calibrated to World Input–Output Tables (WIOT) and Inter-Country Input–Output (ICIO) data from the OECD. While providing consistent and harmonised trade data for all input and output flows globally, these data feature a number of limitations that need to be kept in mind when interpreting the presented simulation results. Notably, global input–output tables are generally available only at a 2-digit level, which masks a great deal of inter-sectoral heterogeneity both on the sourcing-side as well as market-side global interdependencies.
The paper identifies a gap in our understanding of why some states gain privileged access to advanced weapons cooperation while others remain excluded. The paper argues that existing theories, such as realist theories of hierarchy, do not fully explain this phenomenon.
The paper identifies a gap in the literature regarding the determinants of NATO military expenditure in the post-Cold War period. The study seeks to address this gap by examining the relationship between economic size, resource endowments, and military expenditure.
Moving NATO Burden Sharing into the Future: Analyzing Burden Sharing in the Post-Cold War Era · 2026 · DOIFurther analysis on the impact of emerging technologies on NATO's deterrence capability. Research on the role of middle-tier contributors in sustaining operational capacity, cohesion, and multinational interoperability. Studies on the potential consequences of U.S. strategic retrenchment on NATO's defence posture.
The need for a comprehensive evaluation of the Alliance's evolving power dynamics. The lack of analysis on the distribution of military capabilities among NATO's principal actors and the potential consequences of U.S. strategic retrenchment. The need to argue that NATO's future effectiveness will depend on its capacity to adapt doctrinally, industrially, and technologically.
The fiscal dimension of European strategic autonomy has received little systematic attention. The paper aims to address this gap by analyzing the fiscal architecture of SAFE.
The previous analysis generates a set of actionable recommendations directed at the four principal actors whose decisions will determine SAFE’s long-term eff ectiveness.
Future research could explore the applicability of the findings to other contexts, such as different types of military construction programs or different regions. The study's results could be used to inform the development of defence cooperation agreements and their implementing arrangements in other contexts.
Overcoming politicisation with defence cooperation agreements: Why USAF EDI MILCON program advanced in Poland but stalled in Slovakia · 2026 · DOIFurther analysis of the implementation of the European Defence Industrial Strategy. Examination of the impact of the strategy on the European defence industry.
The European Defence Industrial Strategy as a catalyst for integration and sustainable growth: opportunities, limits, and barriers · 2026 · DOIThe lack of a comprehensive framework for the European defence industry. The need for a stable, long-term financial framework to support the strategy.
The European Defence Industrial Strategy as a catalyst for integration and sustainable growth: opportunities, limits, and barriers · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the impact of cheap precision drones on the concentration of military power. The paper argues that the current understanding of military power is outdated.
The Reachable World: Cheap Precision, the Downward Redistribution of Military Power, and the Scarcity of Trusted Deep-Systems Comprehension · 2026 · DOIProcurement fragmentation and political coordination in European defence. The need for rapid mobilisation and collective responses in high-intensity crises. The challenge of integrating Türkiye's defence-industrial capacity into the European security framework.
The need to reconcile Türkiye's drive for strategic autonomy with the operational realities of European demographic contraction and industrial ammunition scarcity. The limitations of Europe's current industrial base in addressing defence shortfalls.
Data availability is a major concern, as many military parameters are classified or inconsistently reported. The complexity of modern warfare makes it challenging to quantify material flows. The need for a standardised method to measure the material footprint of warfare.
Most-cited papers in Defense, Military, and Policy Studies
- The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country · American Economic Review · 2003 · 3,591 citations
- Civil War · Journal of Economic Literature · 2010 · 1,458 citations
- An Economic Theory of Alliances · The Review of Economics and Statistics · 1966 · 907 citations
- Allocating Resources to Reproduction and Defense · BioScience · 1987 · 701 citations
- Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1816–1992: Rationale, Coding Rules, and Empirical Patterns · Conflict Management and Peace Science · 1996 · 585 citations
- Swords or Plowshares? A Theory of the Security of Claims to Property · Journal of Political Economy · 1995 · 394 citations
- Strategic responses to technological threats · Business Horizons · 1976 · 378 citations
- The President and the Political Use of Force · American Political Science Review · 1986 · 314 citations
- State Capacity and Military Conflict · The Review of Economic Studies · 2015 · 260 citations
- Economics of Alliances: The Lessons for Collective Action · Journal of Economic Literature · 2001 · 246 citations
Most recent work
- The Price of War · American Economic Review · 2026
- The European Defence Industrial Strategy as a catalyst for integration and sustainable growth: opportunities, limits, and barriers · Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues · 2026
- Sharing the budgetary straitjacket: defence spending, public debt, and the global arms economy · Defense and Security Analysis · 2026
- Europe’s Rearmament Dilemmas · Current History · 2026
- Firms under fire! How insecurity affects formal firms’ existence · Journal of Development Economics · 2026
- Effects of selective conscription on the labour market and education: Evidence from Sweden · European Journal of Political Economy · 2026
- Military Spending and the Falling Rate of Profit in the United States · Review of Radical Political Economics · 2026
- The Impact of Military Spending on Gender Inequality and Growth in MENA: An Empirical Investigation · Review of Radical Political Economics · 2026
- NATO, Industrial Resilience, And Battlefield Transparency · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Indigenisation of the Indian Armed Forces:Outcome-Based Evaluation of Perational and Lifecycle Self-Reliance (2014–2025) with Reference to Operation Sindoor · International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology · 2026
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