Britain and Defence 1945-2000: A Policy Re-evaluation - Review

Britain and Defence 1945-2000: A Policy Re-evaluation. Stuart Croft, Andrew Dorman, Wyn Rees, Matthew Uttley. Longman. [pounds]18.99 p.b. ISBN 0-582-30377-X. This study looks at the changes that have occurred in the United Kingdom's defence policy since the end of World War II. To focus the book's analysis, the four authors have separated out five themes: the ideas that lay behind the formulation of foreign policy, the difference behind 'change' and 'decline' in the period covered, the assertion that decline and reduction were not inevitable and that real choices were made, the assertion that foreign and domestic policies cannot be separated and, finally, the argument that the very nature of national defence has changed with the passing of the years.

The authors look at the various reviews of British defence policy, the UK's contribution to global order and to European security, the UK's nuclear weapons' armament, the management of UK defence, the political debates behind defence policy, the relationship betw een the military and, finally, the UK's industries and their relationship to questions of defence. The writing is perceptive in its analysis of the questions involved and will do a great deal to clarify the complexities involved in this complicated field. (T.B.)

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