Norway: Siltanews – News Desk
Across Nordic (and European) countries, 2025 has suddenly been all about defense procurement. Public deliberation on this matter could have focused on regulations, reform, or corruption. It has not.
Instead, the conversation has taken the form of a cross-political and almost unanimous agreement that military procurement must increase enormously — and quickly. To shape public debate, peace researchers, security researchers, and legal experts could have offered critical interventions and reflections on tradeoffs in public spending, the risks of militarization, and alternative pathways and visions of peace, and the interlink age between peace and defense procurement Yet almost no critical engagement has been forthcoming.
This blog is a call for acknowledging the problematic consequences of depoliticizing defense procurement, and academic complicity in this process, but also for embracing the opportunities for collaborative and cross-sectoral politicization of this important topic. This blog is in part a translation of a Norwegian language op ed called ‘Defense procurement and democratic debate: a social science blindspot’ published in Stat & String March 2025.
After publication, I have received encouraging emails from the Norwegian defense establishment – as well as enthusiastic messages from European defense academics who read the piece by way of Google Translate and are worried about corruption.
I have also spent time discussing with Nordic academic colleagues whether this silence on defense procurement is a shared Nordic phenomenon.
The feedback I have received is that yes, there is silence, and this silence is problematic. At the same time, it is my clear impression that the defense sector is concerned about capacity and legality and would welcome more debate and more critical interest.
The current urgency in buying and spending exacerbates problems identified by the defense sector itself: incompetence, lack of capacity, delays and corruption are endemic challenges for the militaries that have also for decades been under-resourced, downscaled and subjected to waves of reform. Hence, the decision to expand the argument and do an English language blog.
My argument runs as follows: According to decision-makers, to ensure the national security of Nordic nations, the spending and the political, bureaucratic, and professional focus given to defense procurement must grow significantly.
From a democratic standpoint, it is concerning that there is so little political debate about what should be procured, why, and what the strategic, societal and economic consequences will be for Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland domestically but also what the consequences are for peace in the region. I recently attended a breakfast seminar hosted by the Norwegian defense and security industry association.
A Danish procurement lawyer noted in his presentation that despite ongoing scandals and delays, the mantra was an urgent ‘kob, kob, kob’ (buy, buy, buy). A defense contractor in the audience was worried about capacity and competence.