The war in Ukraine and the US administration's growing disengagement from European security have led to a paradigm shift in European defence. While contestation and negotiation about strategic priorities are inevitable, some of this division emerges from competing visions about the future of European defence: one focusing on a industrialised, war economy-type of rearmament, and one focusing on new, disruptive technologies, embracing dual-use promises and dilemmas. What happens when different sociotechnical imaginaries compete while urgent decisions need to be taken to reshape the future? The article examines the contestation process to analyse the European defence industrial and technological developments since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. We argue that contestations about European defence's socio-technical future take place on three main dimensions: time, financing, and ontology—crystalizing two main different visions. These visions are not mutually exclusive but they lead to different public policy solutions, and therefore understanding what they rest upon is fundamental. Theoretically, we contribute to the sociotechnical imaginary literature by analysing how sociotechnical imaginaries retain analytical utility in moments of crisis.
Mawdsley, Jocelyn & Bruno Oliveira Martins (2025) War economy vs European Silicon Valley? The EU's competing sociotechnical imaginaries of defence innovation and industry, Contemporary Security Policy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2025.2599280.
