Rethinking Britain's Greatness

Hardly a day goes by in London that some august gathering or eminent institution is not considering, or reconsidering, Britain's role in the world. Never more so than right now, with a new government settling in and budgetary axes flying up and down every corridor in Whitehall.

In this working paper, Michael Codner, director of Military Science at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), elegantly lays out the choices confronting Britain as one of the world's great military powers and America's most capable and important fighting ally. A taste: "The UK is currently the fourth biggest defence spender in the world but the ninth largest economy. In other words, the country pays more for defence than its world economic standing justifies. The dilemma turns on the retention of world status; if the taxpayer is unprepared to fund defence at current levels (2.3 per cent GDP), Britain will be unable to prevent its dwindling international influence. The UK could make moderate defence cuts or even slash defence spending to the NATO European average of 1.65 per cent. Either way, large cuts could be made if Britain abandoned its predilection for perceived world influence."