THE ROLE OF GLOBAL INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY
Abstract
The article establishes that the current stage of global economic development is characterized by the concentration of financial capital in strategically important sectors, particularly the defense sector, which leads to an increase in the influence of global institutional investors. It is shown that companies such as BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, by accumulating significant amounts of assets under management, exert a systemic influence on the ownership structure of defense corporations not only through direct share ownership but also through passive investment mechanisms, particularly ETFs. It is argued that the growth of global military spending and the expansion of the defense products market stimulate financial capital’s interest in this sector. Based on an analysis of the ownership structure of leading defense companies, the dominance of institutional investors has been established, whose share in the form of ETFs and portfolio investments averages 30–40% or more, forming a new model of corporate control. The existence of the phenomenon of “diffuse concentration” has been demonstrated, in which a formally diversified ownership structure is combined with a high level of actual influence by a limited circle of global financial institutions. It has been determined that the defense industry is characterized by a high level of economic and investment concentration, with a significant portion of capital concentrated in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, and leading companies accumulating the main investment flows. At the same time, a conclusion has been drawn regarding the emergence of a model of “institutionally concentrated control,” in which institutional investors act as key actors of influence, while the state retains a selective strategic role. It is argued that such a transformation has a dual effect: on the one hand, it contributes to increased efficiency, transparency, and access to capital, while on the other, it creates risks of conflict between financial interests and national security objectives. Prospects for further research involve analyzing the interaction between the state and global financial capital in the context of a changing security environment.
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