As Western security alliances fragment, Richard Reeve charts the implications for the UK’s most fundamental strategic assumptions, and makes the case for ‘thinking beyond the unthinkable’ in the government’s next National Security Strategy.
SDR: Ten suggestions for a real ‘root and branch review of UK defence’
In its first weeks in power the new Labour government launched a Strategic Defence Review, the UK’s fifth in nine years. In the first of a new series, Richard Reeve draws on Rethinking Security’s evidence submission to the SDR to suggest ten ways that Reviewers should depart from their narrow script to begin a genuinely strategic, transformative approach to UK defence and global security.
Does the new Government’s Strategic Defence Review offer a window for rethinking UK defence policy?
On 13 September 2024, the British International Studies Association’s new Security Policy and Practice working group hosted a ‘Dialogue on the UK Government’s Strategic Defence Review’, supported by Rethinking Security. Over 50 scholars, plus experts working with parliamentary committees, NGOs and think tanks, joined the session. This article captures key points from the discussion while respecting the Chatham House Rule.
Thinking inside the box: How opinion polls shape security debates and policy in the UK
In a major new report for Rethinking Security, Lillah Fearnley explores how public opinion on security is surveyed in the UK, what questions are asked, by whom and of whom, and what policy responses are included and promoted. The following is the Executive Summary of that report, including recommendations for policy-makers, pollsters and media.
Stick and Twist: The UK bets big on existential competition
The UK has revealed its hand for its new national security strategy, released on 13 March. Or has it? In this new long read, Richard Reeve argues that the UK is placing three big, long bets in its Integrated Review Refresh with major consequences and opportunity costs for tackling the environmental and social crises that threaten us all
Reframing Security: Reflections on assessing local security concerns
We are constantly being told about threats to our national security but what is it that makes ordinary people in the UK feel most insecure? Judith Eversley reports on the findings of her local group’s efforts to gauge perceptions of human security in Bath and North East Somerset.
The MOD’s Accidental Roadmap to Peace: A radical reading of the Integrated Operating Framework
The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) has been doing some rethinking about how it operates in peacetime, wartime and somewhere in-between. ‘Cassandra’ looks at the MOD’s Integrated Operating Concept and finds an unexpected roadmap for building peace in a world already at war, but only when read from back to front.
Keeping up with the Putins
The British Foreign Secretary laid out her vision for the UK’s foreign policy in an age of global conflict on 27 April. Fred Carver argues that her speech ignored the compromised nature of both Russian and British power and failed to envision any long-term basis for sustainable peace between the West, Russia and China.
Building from Ukraine: From Solidarity to Systemic Change
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has elicited unprecedented international condemnation as well as expressions of solidarity with its resisters. Richard Reeve suggests six ways that this war compels the UK, Europe and the world to take action and move from selective solidarity to global systemic change. Many people feel powerless in the face of Russia’s … Continue reading Building from Ukraine: From Solidarity to Systemic Change
Heavy lift human security: The UK military and fragile states
In this essay, first published in a new volume by the Foreign Policy Centre and Peaceful Change Initiative, Richard Reeve analyses whether, after an era of catastrophic foreign military interventions and amidst talk of ever wider deployments and campaigns, there are still positive internationalist roles that the British Armed Forces could be fulfilling.
Open Society, Closed Conversations: External Consultation and the Integrated Review
This briefing paper from Rethinking Security and UNA-UK compares the external consultation processes of the recent Integrated Review with previous UK security reviews. It aims to inform better practice and contribute to Rethinking Security’s Alternative Security Review project.
Reclaiming the Right to Fight: Global Britain and International Law
A flurry of diplomatic and military initiatives has recently heralded the implementation of the Global Britain strategy set out in March’s Integrated Review. Richard Reeve analyses the New Atlantic Charter between UK and US and finds a gaping hole where the commitment to delegitimise use of force once stood.