challenge of defending Britain

Clarke demystifies British defence policy, and invites and encourages the reader to interrogate the role of defence as Britain responds to the challenges of navigating Brexit Britain through the increasingly dangerous waters of world politics.

It has never been more important to understand defence policy. Brexit Britain sets the country on a new path, requiring fresh international partnerships and reinvigorating some old ones. Yet world politics is in a more dangerous state than at any time since the height of the Cold War. As the country confronts its future challenges, British defence policy will be key. Readjusting from a quarter-century of expeditionary operations, peace-support and nation-building, the military now faces the prospect of war-fighting in an age of robotics, cyber-technologies, international terrorism and political subversion.

Clarke sets these challenges within the basic principles of defence policy: sufficient funding, enough of the right equipment, properly trained people, the technological glue to hold it all together and – not least – a credible politico-military strategy to use military force properly. This book sheds valuable light on how and why governments make the decisions they do, and equips the reader with the tools to make their own judgements about British defence policy as it emerges for the future.

An analysis that takes the complexity of British defence policy apart to view its anatomy and show how policy is made in this area. British defence policy is in a phase of great transition as the country confronts its Brexit future and also as world politics becomes more threatening and potentially unstable. This book uses the most up to date information to examine in a concise and readable way all the elements that go to make up Britain’s defence policy as it goes through the most significant transition since the end of the Cold War in 1991.

By analysing the costs of defence, the equipment issues, the personnel, the technical and intelligence back-up for it, and the strategies to employ military forces, this book offers a brief but rich guide to understanding an area of policy that many people find baffling.