THE ADAPTABILITY OF THE FRENCH ARMAMENTS INDUSTRY IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION

Abstract

The transformations of the French arms industry have to be put in the context of the dramatic changes in the geopolitical and economic environment, or globalization. This paper documents the role of military-related technological programs in French technology policy, and their contribution to the technological performance of defense contractors and manufacturing industry generally. It employs the concept of a French Meso-system of Armaments (FMSA) to describe the set of committed governmental organizations and industrial companies, which are bound up with each other through market and non-market relationships. The paper traces the main transformations of the FMSA that aim at preserving, through adaptation, the intertwined relationships between the state and defense companies over the past decades and in particular in the decade following the collapse of the communist system.