Apps at war: army+, reserve+ and the rise of digital defence governance in Ukraine

Matthew Byron Arnold, Viktoriia Roller and Khrystyna Zhyvogliad

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Ukraine’s Army+ and Reserve+ applications show how digital tools can transform mobilisation and military administration by re-engineering core governance processes, not simply adding apps on top of bureaucracy. By achieving a high degree of digital defence governance, Ukraine is reshaping the structural conditions under which it can sustain its defence effort – from how it mobilises people to how it supports serving personnel – and, in doing so, expanding what is politically and administratively possible in a long war. Army+ and Reserve+ are central to an adaptive governance approach that seeks to sustain a protracted war under democratic constraints, using digital channels to make mass military service more rule-bound, transparent, and legible to citizens and servicemembers, while constraining arbitrary bureaucratic discretion. Ukraine’s democratic allies should study its model to identify elements that could be adapted within their own national contexts.

JEL-codes: J01 R14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2026-05
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