The economics of regional security: NATO, the Mediterranean and Southern Africa

Book abstract:

This is the sixth volume from the series of monographs published by Harwood Academic Publishers which are devoted to defence economics. This field of study shows how concepts from economics and other social disciplines can be applied to important issues of defence, conflict and peace. This book focuses on how these economic concepts can be applied to security issues at the regional level, providing a rich vein of empirical data for testing theories from defence economics and for evaluating different national defence policies with specific studies of NATO, the Mediterranean region and southern Africa.

Part I of the book focuses on NATO and deals with its European dimension, defence budgets and future challenges. The first chapter discusses the contribution of defence economics to policy formation and the economic implications of creating a single European market for defence equipment. The role of the EU in determining the stability of the Mediterranean region in the post-cold war era comes under the spotlight in chapter two while chapter three examines the economic impact of falling defence budgets on the central economic questions of allocation and efficiency. In the final chapter of Part I the focus is on the future of NATO with a discussion of Nato's new roles and missions, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, rogue states and NATO expansion.

The economics of security in the Mediterranean region are discussed in Part II of the volume with an assessment of the impact of Greek-Turkish rivalry on foreign direct investment followed by an analysis of the defence-growth relationship in both Greece and Turkey. The emphasis in the final two chapters of Part II shifts from the eastern Mediterranean region with a review of the determinants of military spending in the European Catholic countries and the Muslim African states of the western Mediterranean, and a case study of Algeria.

Part III is devoted to another part of the globe - southern Africa. This region provides case study material on the threats posed by conflict and civil war which could 'spill over' to developed nations. The first chapter presents an economic analysis of civil war in Mozambique, including its effects on output, growth and distortions in the economic structure. In the next two chapters the experiences of South Africa are examined in terms of the macroeconomic impacts of the search for a peace dividend there and the threat of illegal migration to national security. In the fourth chapter a South African perspective is offered of attempts to institutionalise regional security in the southern African region. The book concludes with an analysis of regional peace as a collective action good, exploring the implications of the public good approach for peacemaking and peacekeeping in southern Africa, for free-riding and for the design of institutions.

This book will be of wide interest to academics and researchers in economics, strategic studies and political science.

Jurgen Brauer is Associate Professor of Economics in the College of Business Administration at Augusta State University, Georgia, USA and national co-chair of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction (ECAAR) in the USA. His co-editor, Keith Hartley is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Defence Economics at the University of York, UK. He has also acted as a consultant to the UK Ministry of Defence, the UN, the European Commission and the UK Parliament.