Dr Elisabeth Sköns

Associate Senior Fellow

Dr Elisabeth Sköns

Dr Elisabeth Sköns has 20 years' experience as a researcher on military expenditure and arms industry issues. Until mid-2012 she was the Director of SIPRI's Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. She has published extensively on these issues for over 20 years, in particular in the SIPRI Yearbook. Since 2009, she has led a project on security and governance in Africa. During the period 2009–12, this project included research and support for civil society organizations in five African countries. She was the Head of SIPRI's Mali civil society and peacebuilding project until 2016.

Subject expertise

Arms industry issues; arms industry data sources and methods; internationalization of arms production; offsets in the arms trade; military expenditure issues; military expenditure data sources and methods; military budgeting processes; security sector governance; security and development; external actors in African security; the role of civil society in African security; economics of peace and security

CONTACT Dr Elisabeth Sköns

Languages

English, Swedish, German

Education

PhD in Economics, University of the West of England

Citizenship

Sweden

Affiliations

Economists for Peace and Security Journal, Editorial Board Member

SIPRI COMMENTARY

The challenge of external engagement in African security (Essay, December 2014 )
The role of civil society in building peace in Mali (Essay, October 2013 )

SIPRI AND PARTNER PUBLICATIONS

Brzoska, M., Omitoogun, W. and Sköns, E., The Human Security Case for Rebalancing Military Expenditure (SIPRI, Stockholm: May 2022)
Security Activities of External Actors in Africa2014) pp. 213
Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2012 (April 2013) 8 pp.
Le rôle de la société civile dans la construction de la paix au Mali (October 2013)
The Private Military Services Industry (September 2008) 20 pp.
Sources and Methods for SIPRI Research (January 1995) 19 pp.

3. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2013)
4. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2011)
Appendix 5A. Military expenditure data, 1999–2008 (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2009)
5. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2009)
5. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2008)
6. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2008)
9. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2007)
7. Analysing risks to human lives (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2007)
8. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2007)
Appendix 8A. Tables of military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2007)
7. Military expenditure data: a 40-year overview (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2006)
7. Financing security in a global context (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2005)
8. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2005)
9. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2005)
10. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2004)
11. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2004)
9. The military sector in a changing context (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2003)
10. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2003)
11. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2003)
6. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2002)
Appendix 6A. Tables of military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2002)
7. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2002)
4. Military expenditure and arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2001)
5. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2000)
6. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 2000)
7. Military expenditure (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1999)
10. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1999)
6. Military expenditure and arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1998)
8. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1997)
10. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1996)
13. Arms production (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1995)
13. Arms production and arms trade (Chapter, SIPRI Yearbook 1994)

External publications

Sköns, E., ‘Der Boom der Rüstungsindustrie’, Wissenschaft und Frieden, no. 4, 2012.
Sköns, E. and Perlo-Freeman, S., The United States’ military spending and the 2011 budget crisis’, in SIPRI Yearbook 2012(Oxford University Press, 2012).
Sköns, E., ‘The US defence industry after the cold war’, in A. Tan (ed.), The Global Arms Trade (Routledge: London and New York, 2010).
Dunne, P. and Sköns. E., ‘The military-industrial complex’, in A. Tan (ed.), The Global Arms Trade (Routledge: London and New York, 2010).
Perlo-Freeman, S., C. Perdomo, P. Stålenheim and E. Sköns, ‘Military expenditure’, in SIPRI Yearbook 2009 (Oxford University Press, 2009).
Sköns, E. and P. Dunne, ‘Economics of arms production’, in Lester Kurz (ed), Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict, vol. 1. (Elsevier: Oxford, 2009).
Sköns, E., ‘l’industria militare e le sfide della globalizzazione’ [The military industry: the challenges of globalisation], in C. Bonaiuti and A. Lodovisi (eds), Annuario La Pira Armi e Disarmo [Yearbook on Arms and Disarmament], no. 3 (Jaca Books: Milano, 2008).
Sköns, E., ‘Analysing risks to human lives’, in SIPRI Yearbook 2007 (Oxford University Press, 2007).
Sköns,. E., ‘In search of a peace dividend’, in Statesman‘s Yearbook 2007: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World (Palgrave Macmillan: New York and Basingstoke, 2006).
Sköns, E., ‘The costs of armed conflict’, in Peace and Security: Expert Papers Series Five, International Task Force on Global Public Goods (Stockholm, 2005).
Sköns, E., ‘Omstruktureringen av vesteuropeisk forsvarsindustri: markedskrafternas logikk’ [Restructuring of the West European defence industry: the logic of market forces], in Matlary, J.H. and O. Osterud (eds), Mot et Avnasjonalisert Forsvar? [Towards a Denationalized Defence?], (Abstrakt Forlag: Oslo, 2005).
Sköns, E., ‘Financing security in a global context’, in SIPRI Yearbook 2005 (Oxford University Press, 2005).