Political Economy of Outer Space Security

Abstract

As human civilizations increasingly explore, utilize, and compete in space, the man-made security challenges are evolving and the strategies and political economic rationales become increasingly relevant for analysis. Sustainability and efficiency call for exploitation of static economies of scale and scope in space industries and services, yet the trade-offs in control, governance, and dynamic innovation point towards autonomy and oligopolistic structures with overcapacity. The economic sustainability becomes a key element of the dynamic pursue of space policies and objectives at national and partnership levels. In the latter case, specialization and its implications for the wide economy through externalities and indirect effects receive increasing attention as space becomes contested, congested, and competitive. Notwithstanding the fact that they are largely government controlled, aerospace industries play a crucial role in trading patterns. Hence, they can be considered a fiscal government spending element similar to defense expenditure. The country specializations and their evolution in commercial markets and alliances are focal points in the current global trade policy paradigm shifts, affecting performance and evolution of space programs and industries. The analysis concludes with the ever-increasing role of regulation and relative power balances across nations, companies, and terrestrial-air-space systems especially for telecommunication applications.