ABSTRACT
The changed nature of the nationstate and recast concepts of sovereignty, when combined with the evolving security threats and the contemporary economic pressures on the individual nations of West Europe, will further accelerate endeavors to integrate the defense structures of the continent. The economic realities of reduced military expenditures and shrinking global arms markets have forced reductions in both equipment production and troop strength. German economic primacy and French political leadership combined to serve the national interests of each state through access to the collective resources of the emerging institutions. European states have pursued cooperation in both the economic and security fields as the individual nationstates have subordinated national autonomy in the search for collective goods that can only be accumulated through multilateral institutions. European defense firms have themselves become the driving force behind integration efforts in the defense-industrial sector.
