Strategic autonomy in a connected world
Rethinking autonomy as the capacity to make choices within interdependent systems.
This legacy research perspective has not been independently peer-reviewed. Consult the cited sources when interpreting its conclusions.
Strategic autonomy is most useful as a question about options: which decisions remain available when the international environment changes?
Autonomy as a capacity to choose
Interdependence can create both opportunity and exposure. The relevant analytical question is not whether an institution or economy can eliminate every external dependency. It is whether those dependencies constrain important decisions, and whether credible alternatives can be developed at an acceptable cost.
Distinguish exposure from vulnerability
Trade or technological connections do not automatically constitute a strategic vulnerability. Assessments should examine substitutability, timing, concentration and the consequences of disruption. This approach makes it possible to compare risks without treating all international connections as equivalent.
From a concept to a research method
We propose examining autonomy through a set of concrete policy choices: procurement, infrastructure, research cooperation and industrial capacity. Each offers a different balance between efficiency, resilience and flexibility. The purpose is not to prescribe a universal model, but to make the assumptions behind strategic choices open to scrutiny.
