Description
Between 2021-2024 the Centre for Peace and Security undertook a mixed-method research project alongside Rethinking Security, entitled An Alternative Security Review for the United Kingdom. The project sought to understand how security was conceptualised from UK Citizens, providing a unique bottom-up perspective on the security priorities of UK Citizens.
Key to this was a comprehensive nationwide survey of UK Citizens conducted in January-March 2023 across the UK by Savanta. The surveys were designed to elicit the public’s own understanding of ‘security’ through the use open questions; to avoid closed questions that limit the public to selecting threats and responses pre-identified by elites; and to use methodologies that elicit the perspectives of a diverse UK public, including minority and marginalised
groups. One survey used a sample of 1,091 respondents between the ages of 16 and 30; the other used a sample of 2,004 respondents between the ages of 31 and 75.
The presentation discusses the full dataset from the survey, which will be released alongside a published paper in 2026. It will speak of the value of such a survey at a time of increased political polarisation, a turn to ‘vernacular’ security studies, and an increased emphasis on societal resilience in the UK’s Strategic Defence Review and National Security. Moreover, it will outline the possibilities of further research that can be generated from what is a comprehensive dataset.
