Lessons from Airbus and Eurofighter for current and future multi-state cooperation in the aerospace industry.

This thesis analyses Airbus and Eurofighter cooperation programmes in a comparative manner. Both programmes shared similar beginnings, were established in the form of international consortia and had almost the same membership, however, they had different objectives and functioned within different segments of aerospace. The aim of this thesis is to explore the reasons behind varying outcomes of the aforementioned programmes and to identify factors and circumstances affecting the multi-state cooperation in aerospace. These findings serve as lessons for current and future multi-state cooperation in the aerospace industry. The theoretical framework used throughout the work is liberal institutionalism. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied in the research. Qualitative methods refer to process tracing and the analysis of primary and secondary sources, whereas quantitative refers to the analysis of data gathered on export, deliveries and orders. This thesis consists of three chapters. It begins with the analysis of Airbus, explores its origins, development and the impact of structure and political involvement. The second chapter provides an overview on the Eurofighter programme from its conception up to recent times and scrutinises the impact of structure and political involvement. The third chapter provides an overview on the varying characteristics of civil and military aerospace, explores international cooperation in the 21st century and provides a comparative analysis of both Airbus and Eurofighter. Findings bring to a conclusion, that the distinctive characteristics of civil and military aerospace, varying level of political involvement, the difference in structures, coordinated industrial policies in the case of Airbus, juste retour policy in the case of Eurofighter, and the adaptability to changing circumstances were the main causes of varying outcomes of both cooperation programmes. Furthermore, the circumstances enabling multi-state cooperation to thrive are the convergence of interests, the will to formulate coordinated industrial policies, integrated structure, activity in export and adapting to changes. The factors hindering multi-state cooperation are divergent interests, inability to adapt, excessive political interference, complicated structure and juste retour policy.