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.
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…
Read More Building from Ukraine: From Solidarity to Systemic Change
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.
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.
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.
The recent Integrated Review caught headlines for reversing cuts to the UK’s stock of nuclear warheads. Paul Rogers argues that we should be more concerned about the expansion of potential options for their use and the growing opacity of nuclear decision-making.
War and climate change are intimately linked, argues Brian Larkin. He explains why he and fellow activists from XR Peace blockaded BAE Systems London headquarters in 2019 over its links to the bombing of Yemeni civilians and the UK nuclear weapons programme.
The UK Government’s Integrated Review sets an ambitious agenda to be a contender in an era of global competition. Unshackled from Europe, everything seems to be a priority. Richard Reeve argues that, for all the talk of its soft and scientific superpowers, the opportunity to save the world and protect and serve its people has been wasted.
Between Covid and climate catastrophe, 2021 is a time of intense human insecurity. With neither Government nor Opposition likely to develop a strategy that addresses this, Richard Reeve argues that it's high time the UK had a human security strategy.
One year after a decisive election and on the verge of a definitive break with the EU, there is still little substance to the government’s Global Britain slogan. The three big political parties are talking about the UK’s future role in the world, says Richard Reeve, but do any have a compelling vision for how the country can work collaboratively for sustainable global change?
The time is ripe for a new approach to national strategy that thinks long-term and puts the participation and wellbeing of the public at its heart, says Sophie Middlemiss, as she shares the initial findings of the National Strategy for the Next Generations project.
Richard Reeve reflects on a workshop that broadened the Rethink Security network by bringing academic specialists together with policy and practice experts from civil society to formulate a radical rethinking of UK foreign and security policy.
