Julien Malizard and Josselin Droff , researchers at the Chair in Defence Economics publish an article in the special issue (n°30) from Champs de Mars. Journal of War and Peace Studies, at Presses de Sciences Po.
The article is entitled: « Economic analysis of the sustainability of external operations«
It takes an original approach to a little studied issue in defence economics literature: the sustainability of military operations. The French case is used here as an empirical example to illustrate the analysis.
France is involved in a number of field operations which have cost more than a billion euros a year for almost ten years. An examination of the «additional costs of OPEX» illustrates the new methods of intervention. This contribution examines, from an economic point of view, the operating cost borne by the armies involved in these military operations, whose duration, l‘intensity and the’scope have particularly increased in recent years.
This cost is difficult to assess because it has no economic value in itself, so we have to resort to indirect analyses, via the consequences for people and equipment. The authors show that, over the last ten years or so, the number of serious shortcomings This could ultimately lead to a reduction in France's military potential. The risk is that, in the long term, France will no longer be capable of participate effectively in OPEX. The question then arises as to what solutions can be envisaged to enable better OPEX sustainability. Several areas for improvement are discussed at the end of the article.
This contribution is an extension of an initial reflection published by the authors in the IRSEM Newsletter n°4/2015. It has also been the subject of several papers by the authors : Study day of the Defence Economics - Conflict Economics working group (Blois, April 2017), 21st International Conference on Economics and Security (Royal Military Academy, Brussels, June 2017), IRSEM Conflict and Defence Economics Seminar (Paris, January 2018).
For more information on this special issue of Champs de Mars : https://www.defense.gouv.fr/irsem/publications/champs-de-mars/champs-de-mars/
