This project considers the SDSR process and outcomes. The publication of the UK government's Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) in October 2010, came at a time of significant financial difficulties in the UK's security and defence budgets , long-standing operational commitments and a sense of national strategic flux. long-standing operational commitments and a sense of national strategic flux.

Evaluating the 2010 Strategic Review

A major report, Strategy in Austerity: The Security and Defence of the United Kingdom, was published in October 2010 just ahead of the SDSR. This report places the government's defence and security review in its proper strategic context and offers a framework for assessing whether the government's policy outlook and equipment choices reflect a truly strategic approach.

As a companion to this report, and as part of our ongoing work on the Strategic Defence and Security Review and the National Security Strategy, Paul Cornish and his colleagues on the International Security Programme have published a series of scorecards which provide expert assessment of different aspects of the 2010 UK Strategy Review. Ranging from counter-terrorism to cyber security to conflict prevention, the cards review the government's approach as detailed in the NSS and the SDSR. The cards evaluate the way in which the government explains its strategy and assess the likelihood of success. Against a marking grid (0-10) shown at the bottom of each card, the government's performance is graded for clarity, coherence, and deliverability.

Read the scorecards in full: Evaluating the 2010 Strategy Review

Further Resources

Britain's Strategic Defence and Security Review: Muddling Through
The World Today
Paul Cornish, November 2010

British Power Beyond the Military: Smart On Soft Power
The World Today
Michael Harvey, November 2010

Franco-British Defence Cooperation Amidst Budget Cuts: Signs of Concord
The World Today
Benoit Gomis, November 2010

NATO's Future: Hooked On Security
The World Today
Patrick Porter, November 2010

Western Perceptions of the Strategic Environment: Risky Business
The World Today
Alexis Crow, November 2010

Evaluating the 2010 Strategy Review
Strategy Review Scorecards
October 2010

Strategy in Austerity: The Security and Defence of the United Kingdom
Chatham House Report
Paul Cornish, October 2010

Who does UK National Strategy
Written evidence to the Public Administration Committee
Robin Niblett, September 2010

Who does UK National Strategy
Written evidence to the Public Administration Committee
Paul Cornish, September 2010

Party Promises on Defence
Expert Comment
Paul Cornish, April 2010

British Defence Spending: Divorced from Reality
The World Today
Andrew Dorman, February 2010

Breaking the Mould: the United Kingdom Strategic Defence Review 2010
International Affairs
Paul Cornish and Andrew Dorman, March 2010

National Defence in the Age of Austerity
International Affairs
Paul Cornish and Andrew Dorman, July 2009

Blair's Wars and Brown's Budgets: From Strategic Defence Review to Strategic Decay in Less Than a Decade
International Affairs
Paul Cornish and Andrew Dorman March 2009

Media Dissemination

Below is a selection of media mentions of the report Strategy in Austerity and comments made by Chatham House experts about the SDSR.

Editorial: Defence and Security Review: Groping for a strategy
The Guardian, 20 October 2010

Fortress Britain no longer?
Foreign Policy, 20 October 2010

Cameron keeps everybody happy...for now
The Financial Times, 19 October 2010

Times panel: analysis of defence cuts
The Times, 19 October 2010

Leading article: An age of uncertainty
The Independent, 19 October 2010

Defence cuts: will the US now give up on us?
The Guardian, 19 October 2010

Crow on UK's defence review
Bloomberg, 19 October 2010

How the carriers sank a defence strategy
The Financial Times, 18 October 2010

Where will the axe fall? Whitehall waits for the bloodbath
The Independent, 17 October 2010

Contact

For more information please contact Claire Yorke, Manager, International Security Programme.

For media commentary please contact the Press Office on +44 (0)20 7957 5739.