The Defense Cooperation Agreement Dataset (DCAD)

Abstract

The academic study of defense cooperation focuses heavily on formal military alliances. Yet, governments rarely sign new alliances, and the global alliance structure has remained relatively static for decades. By contrast, governments are increasingly active in defense cooperation agreements (DCAs). These bilateral framework treaties institutionalize their signatories’ day-to-day defense relations, facilitating such wide-ranging activities as defense policy coordination, joint research and development, weapons production and arms trade, joint military exercises, training and exchange programs, peacekeeping, and information exchange. Nearly 2,000 DCAs have been signed since 1980. Preliminary evidence suggests that DCAs impact numerous security, military, and defense outcomes and that governments increasingly incorporate DCAs as core elements of their security strategies. This article introduces the new DCA Dataset (DCAD). I provide a brief historical background on DCAs and compare them to other commonly studied forms of defense cooperation. I then explain coding standards and describe the data set in detail. Finally, I illustrate applications of DCAD to militarized interstate disputes and arms trade.

Climbing the Ladder: Explaining the Vertical Proliferation of Cruise Missiles

“…Lastly, we extended our analysis by exploring the ways in which cruise missile producers serve as the sources of technology transfers (see the Appendix). Using the NCM’s data on national LACM production capabilities and data from Kinne (2020) on defense cooperation agreements (DCAs), we coded a count variable for how many DCAs (of any kind) that states had with cruise missile producers. The variable had a positive and statistically significant effect in the models that only examined sophistication scores, but the effects washed out in the selection models.…”

Why do allies receive less aid than non-allies?

“…(see Table 1 in the appendix for more details) Additionally, I will use comprehensive defense cooperation agreements as an alternative measure of alliance. The data set is compiled by Brandon Kinne (Kinne 2020). I will use general DCAs-agreements that "attempt to coordinate and institutionalize the entirety of their signatories' current and prospective defense relations" as an indicator of alliance.10 There are 70 DCAs between the four donors and recipients between 1980 and 201011.…”

Indo–French Defence Cooperation in the Light of Regional Security Balance in South Asia

“…France seeks deeper cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and transforming its security expansion (Pajon, 2018;Shetler-Jones, 2018). Kinne (2019) defines the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) as a formal agreement to promote bilateral security relations between India and France 1 . At this moment, both countries had agreed to develop an institutional setup in the defence sector.…”

“…At this moment, both countries had agreed to develop an institutional setup in the defence sector. The Agreement's objective is to nurture the background of the military and defence fields, encourage the production of military equipment, research and development, and procurement of old military weapons (Kinne, 2019). This cooperation seeks to expedite and establish stronger cooperation between the two parties in the defence sector.…”