The World Today

The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) is in an awful mess. The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), delivered in October 2010, failed to solve some core issues, and there is a real danger that the ministry’s downward path will continue to pick up pace - at precisely the wrong time.

One year into office, foreign policy is unexpectedly proving a defining theme of Britain’s coalition government. Faced with economic austerity at home and geopolitical uncertainty abroad, the challenge has been to match ambitions to changing realities. Add to this the wave of popular dissent across the Arab world and military intervention in Libya, and it is not hard to see why international affairs have risen to the top of the government’s agenda. All of this presents the ideal opportunity, twelve months in, to assess the emerging contours of the coalition’s approach.

What kind of safety net is the United States (US) prepared to pay for? mWhat kind of government intervention in the private sector is appropriate after the biggest recession since the Great Depression? What kind of tax burden should be shared, especially by the wealthiest Americans? Those questions lie at the heart of each of the painful clashes over the budget and deficit between Republicans and Democrats this year.

As the ‘Arab Spring’ stutters into a summer stalemate, has the time come to revise policy thinking on development so that it includes democracy promotion as well as poverty alleviation?

The global demographic landscape is a complex one, and not surprisingly very difficult for many to comprehend. The media is alive with projections that the global population will reach seven billion people by the end of 2011, and will exceed nine billion by 2050, with much of this growth occurring in the least-developed countries, where a high rate of mortality is outweighed by an even higher rate of fertility.

In the rush to assess the causes and potential consequences of the ‘Arab Spring’ which has rocked much of the Arab world from the Persian Gulf to North Africa, some have been keen to place the developments in the wider context of the geo-political contest between the United States and Iran.