Description
The scholarship identifies an increasing gap from WWII onwards between role and resources available to achieve those commitments (Jordan, 2020; Daddow, 2010). This paper is concerned with interrogating the first variable in greater detail, or role ambitions of the policymakers. How do governments construct and cultivate their desired national role? Does the transition of this role over time have impacts on defence policy choices? Through examining the development of these role conceptions over a period of time, could we learn something about the way in which we negotiate role transition, which might reveal impacts on the UK’s ability to militarily support strategic foreign policy objectives? By examining the connection between defence acquisition and decision-making theories, this paper aims to reveal insights about defence policy makers’ views on the role of Britain at strategic inflection points. The literature on national role orientations (Holsti, 1970; Gaskarth, 2013; Biddle, 1986; Vucetic, 2021) structures the data analysis of these concepts across three defence reviews: the Strategic Defence Review 1998, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010, and the Integrated Review 2021. This debate extends beyond a consideration of military equipment factors and considers wider defence and national policy, asking the question: how have policymakers’ understanding of the national role for Britain impacted the UK’s ability to militarily support strategic foreign policy objectives over time?
