The United Kingdom

This chapter examines the post-cold-war evolution of the UK defence policy into a national security strategy, with an accompanying review of strategic defence and security. It considers how the United Kingdom’s defence posture has changed from a threat-based approach to that of a risk-based approach via a capabilities-based approach. The chapter is divided into four sections. The first considers the evolution of British defence and security policy up to the end of the cold war. The second then analyses how defence and security adapted to the end of the cold war and led to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The third section examines the post-Iraq and Afghanistan period up to the end of 2017 and how UK defence policy was affected by the 2008 financial crisis and the era of austerity that followed. Finally, it draws some conclusions about the drivers of UK defence and security policy and where this might head into the future.