Former Summer Fellow Florian Bodamer Wins Pardee School’s Eilts Award for Best Graduate Thesis

Florian Bodamer, a 2017 Graduate Summer Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, was recently awarded the Eilts Award for best graduate thesis at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. Bodamer, who recently completed a MA in International Affairs, won the award for his thesis titled Power, Plenty, Prestige, and Interest Groups: Why States Sustain Defense Industrial Bases. The Eilts Award “recognizes the value of good research and policy analysis at the Pardee School and celebrates the contribution of Ambassador Hermann Frederick Eilts, the founder of the International Relations programs at Boston University.”

In his thesis, Bodamer explored the three main reasons why a state attempts to acquire defense industrial bases (DIBs) — to protect its sovereignty, reap economic benefits, and enhance its international position — and, furthermore, sought to explain why states sustain DIBs. His critique of these three existing theories, and case studies of DIB developments in Germany and Canada after the end of the Cold War, resulted in the introduction of a fourth theory that centers on the impact of interest groups. 

As a 2017 Graduate Summer Fellow at the Pardee Center, Bodamer researched the impact of defense innovation on long term economic growth. In the fall, he will begin pursuing a PhD in the Department of Political Science at Boston University.