Sovereignty and Collaboration

In terms of military procurement, sovereignty is the ability to develop and operate equipment free from the external constraints of other nations. This paper questions whether sovereignty is an outdated strategy during times of austerity and if its apparent alternative—collaboration—delivers on its promise of affordability. The author examines Britain’s purchase of military equipment over the past 15 years to determine if the United Kingdom has increasingly favored collaboration over sovereignty. He concludes that sovereignty is a contested subject and that the question challenging nation-states in the future will not be whether to resist collaboration in favor of sovereignty but identifying when to collaborate and what sovereignty to invest in.