Description
Since the end of the Cold War, British policymakers have continually aimed to project the role of a great power, however defence acquisition decisions often expose underfunded ambitions, resulting in capability gaps and cost overruns. The paper suggests that failures of British defence policy can be better understood by examining the gap between declared strategy—the official statements of government intent—and revealed strategy—the reality conveyed through actual acquisition decisions. Employing a comparative case study approach, it explored how successive governments’ perceptions of Britain’s role in the world have shaped procurement decisions, and how these decisions, in turn, have exposed structural and cultural constraints in defence decision-making.
