Lessons from History: Building the Industrial Base for European Deterrence and Defence

Together with the Faculty of Arts of the University of Potsdam and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, we would like to invite you to the following event:

Europe is rearming faster than at any point since the Cold War, yet the harder question is no longer how much to spend, but how to build the industrial capacity to deter, and, if necessary fight, a war. History offers hard-won lessons. The panel takes as its starting point a new study that distills a century of war economies into ten hard lessons for today’s rearmament, and puts them to a live test: how must Europe’s defence economy be built to make deterrence credible, reduce its dependence on the United States, and remain a sovereign, resilient economic power?

Concretely, across scenarios for European security and defence-industrial policy, the panel asks what readiness and rearmament demand once plans meet reality: standing industrial capacity that private markets alone won’t build, state-of-the-art military technology, and procurement that is fast without being wasteful. History is unambiguous that industrial policy for war is double-edged – indispensable in the moment, but prone to entrenching interests that outlast the emergency that created them. The panel confronts that tension directly: how to build the defence-industrial base Europe needs now, without building in tomorrow’s dysfunction.

The event will be held in English, with a panel discussion followed by an open discussion. The event will also be livestreamed. The panel discussion will be simultaneously translated into German.

Following the event, we invite you to attend a reception providing an opportunity for further discussion.