As US strategic bombers and special forces deploy at British air bases, the UK is yet again getting sucked into a major war in the Middle East. Richard Reeve examines how London’s delusions of status and influence condemn it to repeating past mistakes and exacerbating dangerous crises. Whether Keir Starmer admits it or not, the … Continue reading Puppetry of the Heinous: Dependence and delusion in UK defence strategy
Nature, Peace and Security: Too important to leave to governments
As governments turn their attention to the intersections between nature, peace and security, civil society needs to speak up if we’re to avoid the dead-end securitisation of the climate crisis; to do so, argues Doug Weir, many of us will need to learn a new language. Global. Ecosystem. Collapse. The message is clear, the UK’s … Continue reading Nature, Peace and Security: Too important to leave to governments
Strategising for Peace in the New Age of Empire
This month’s US National Security Strategy underlines an ongoing shift away from liberal values into a new age of empire. In this new long read, Larry Attree discusses how – by rethinking alliances, defence posture, peace and conflict policies, and international cooperation – the UK can oppose these dangerous trends and promote a more peaceful … Continue reading Strategising for Peace in the New Age of Empire
‘Dangerous World’, Dangerous Narrative: Countering the National Security Strategy’s Assumptions
The UK's latest defence and security reviews set out a simple but effective narrative of an embattled UK in need of urgent military and societal mobilisation amid "radical uncertainty" and a "dangerous world". But what are the deeper assumptions that this dangerous narrative feeds off? And how can a counter-narrative harness other national values and … Continue reading ‘Dangerous World’, Dangerous Narrative: Countering the National Security Strategy’s Assumptions
25 Years of Women, Peace and Security in the UK: An opportunity to align feminist commitments at home and abroad
After a quarter-century of bipartisan British commitment to the Women Peace and Security agenda, the current Labour government suddenly seems loath to mention or fund it. Toni Haastrup and Jamie J. Hagen make the case for reprioritising the feminist principles of gender equality and inclusion in UK policy. By Toni Haastrup and Jamie J. Hagen … Continue reading 25 Years of Women, Peace and Security in the UK: An opportunity to align feminist commitments at home and abroad
Don’t Look Up, Don’t Look Down: The radical certainty of Labour’s National Security Strategy
The UK’s latest National Security Strategy heralds a radical redistribution of national resources from social spending to defence. Richard Reeve argues that it not only brushes aside the looming reality of irreversible climate breakdown but also represents a fundamental abandonment of an eight-decade project to learn the catastrophic lessons of World War Two. ‘Security for … Continue reading Don’t Look Up, Don’t Look Down: The radical certainty of Labour’s National Security Strategy
A ‘Peace Lens’ for the New UK National Security Strategy
For twenty years, violent conflicts and related deaths have been spiralling, while forced displacement has nearly doubled in ten years. Why is this happening? And could a ‘peace lens’ help the UK respond more effectively in its forthcoming National Security Strategy? In this short piece, Larry Attree, Hillary Briffa, Thomas Martin and Richard Reeve discuss the challenges and ways forward, drawing on a roundtable convened on 01 May 2025 to explore this question.
Introducing the National Security and Defence Documents Dataset 1987-2024
A new dataset aims to compile and make available for analysis every national security and defence policy document ever published anywhere in the world. The dataset’s creator, Andrew W. Neal, explains how the collection reveals trends in public security discourse and threat perceptions, and how the dataset can be accessed and analysed by scholars.
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.
Where are you in the story of security?
Rethinking Security’s Alternative Security Review project is committed to understanding what security means to people across the UK and using it to change the national narrative on security policy. Zsófia Hacsek explains how our research partners at Coventry University have used a review of theoretical approaches to security to devise a practical and inclusive methodology for hearing from all kinds of people, and how you can get involved in our research over the rest of this year.
Prospects for Innovative Security Approaches in the South Caucasus
Gulnara Shahinian argues that Armenia’s recent National Security Strategy set it on a path to engage with 21st century human security challenges in constant tension with the South Caucasus’ simmering Soviet-legacy territorial conflicts.