A concise explanation of all the elements that make up current British defence policy as it goes through a major transition to confront the technological and political challenges Britain faces in the coming decade.

This book relates the development of Anglo-Australian-New Zealand relations during and immediately after the second world war to the role of the United States in the South-west Pacific. Based on the results of comprehensive multi-archival research, the book highlights the extent of American-Commonwealth rivalry in the region and following the crisis of late 1941 and early 1942 demonstrates how the reforging of imperial links was shaped by the expansion of American power in Pacific areas south of the equator. It provides an important and timely reassessment of the economic, political and strategic factors that led Britain, Australia and New Zealand to conclude that the postwar affairs of the South-west Pacific should be dominated by the British Empire.

Britain is facing big security challenges in the 2020s. The decade to come will not be as favourable as the two past decades. For a country as 'globalised' as Britain, security challenges cover a wide spectrum - from terrorism, international crime and cyber attack through to the prospects of war in its own continent or even, again, for its own survival. Brexit has entered these equations and turned them into a political tipping point, from which there is no hiding and no turning back. Tipping Point looks at the immediate and long-term security challenges Britain faces - from security and foreign policy to the crisis of liberal democracy - as well as Britain's security capabilities.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of UK defence exports, as an example of the international trade in defence capabilities. The work explores the subject of defence exports from the UK through various lenses, ranging from ethics, geopolitics, and national resilience to technology transfer, industrial partnering and military cooperation. By unveiling a multi-perspective model of defence exports, the book reveals the arms trade to be possessed of many meanings and understandings. At a moment in world history when the threat of state-on-state conflict has re-emerged, wedded to rapid technological changes in the practice of warfare, it is time to reassess the dynamics of the trade in arms through the experiences of the UK – a case study of defence exports from a mature democracy with a well-established military and defence industrial sector. Building upon extensive applied research across the UK defence environment, the work positions defence exports at the centre of a cat’s cradle of multiple drivers and understandings, from the geopolitical to the commercial. Traditional and refreshed ethical arguments relating to the arms trade in the 21st century are also presented and explored which, together, reshape our knowledge and consideration of the roles of defence exports and the challenges that reside in its practice. With extensive access to ministers, policymakers, industrialists, campaigners and military commanders, the author is well-placed to deliver an appreciation of these multiple perspectives and explanations of defence exports, which are presented in an accessible manner for readers. This book will be of much interest to students of defence and security studies, British politics and International Relations, as well as policymakers.

Enemy Sighted is the story of the world’s first integrated air defense system and how the coalition of Hurricanes and Spitfires, Fighter Command’s Operations Rooms and Sector Stations, Radar Stations, Observer Corps posts, anti-aircraft gun and searchlight batteries, and balloon barrages, stood resolutely in the way of Operation Seelöwe, Hitler’s plan for invading Britain in the Summer of 1940. Dilip Amin provides a fascinating insight into their development and eventual operationalization. The system provided a recognized air picture, giving everyone the same information at the same time, much like computers linked through the internet do today, except, in 1939 there was no computer and there was no internet! Fundamental to its telling is the 11 Group Operations Room, today referred to as the Battle of Britain Bunker, and the people who worked there, deep below RAF Uxbridge. It was after visiting the Bunker that Churchill first uttered the immortal words, ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’. Hidden underground, with its large map table and squadron display boards, and balloon and weather states, it is preserved as it was on 15 September 1940, the date celebrated as Battle of Britain Day. Dilip Amin describes how the Bunker operated, transporting the reader back to the time of the Battle of France and the final evacuation from Dunkirk. He guides the reader through the Battle of Britain, examining in detail, the events of 15 September, as seen by those in the Bunker and the combat reports of those flying the Hurricanes and Spitfires on that tumultuous day. Finally, the book provides an insight into how the Bunker operated to protect Britain during the Blitz; support the exploratory raid on Dieppe; shield the troops landing in Normandy; and defend against Hitler’s V1 and V2 Vengeance Weapons. Enemy Sighted provides a compelling insight into the remarkable history of a secret Operations Room, that was pivotal within a world leading air defense system, and without which, an Allied victory in the Second World War would have been far from certain.

'Soft power' is an oft-used term and commands an instinctive understanding among journalists and casual observers, who mostly interpret it as 'diplomatic' or somehow 'persuasive'. 'Hard power' is seen, by contrast, as something more tangible and usually military. But this is a superficial appreciation of a more subtle concept - and one key to Britain's future on the international stage. Britain's Persuaders is a deep exploration of this phenomenon, using new research into the instruments of soft power evident in British society and most relevant to the 2020s. Some, like the British Council or the BBC World Service, are explicitly intended to generate soft power in accordance with governmental intentions; but rather more, like the entertainment industries, sport, professional regulatory bodies, hospitality industries or education sectors have more penetrating soft power effects even as they pursue their own independent or commercial rationales. This book conducts an up-to-date 'audit' of all Britain's principal sources of soft power. Situating its analysis within the current understanding of the 'smart power' of nation states – that desire to employ the full spectrum of policy instruments and national characteristics to achieve policy outcomes, specifically in the context of 'Brexit Britain' where soft power status is certain to loom larger during the 2020s.

This revised and updated tenth edition of the bestselling textbook Politics UK is an indispensable introduction to British politics. It provides a thorough and accessible overview of the institutions and processes of British government, an excellent grounding in British political history and an incisive introduction to the issues and challenges facing Britain today. This edition welcomes three brand new chapters - ‘Elites in the United Kingdom’, 'Gender and British politics' and 'UK Immigration policy in hostile environment' - alongside rigorously updated revised chapters. It delivers excellent coverage of contemporary events, with significant new material covering: the Johnson premiership and the national challenge of Covid-19, the end of the May premiership and the implementation of Brexit, the Labour Party’s transition from Corbyn to Starmer, infrastructure and innovation, 'fake news', populism and nationalism, the UK’s place in a post-Brexit world, climate change, social mobility and elite recruitment, devolution and regionalism, constitutional strain, the role of political advisers, abuse and incivility in politics and much more. Other features of the new edition include: A wide range of illustrative material, boxes and case studies providing illuminating examples alongside the analysis. A comprehensive ‘who’s who’ of politics in the form of Profile boxes featuring key political figures. And another thing . . . pieces containing short articles on salient and pressing topics, written by distinguished commentators including Sir John Curtice, Sir Simon Jenkins, Andrew Rawnsley, Baroness Julie Smith of Newnham, and Philip Collins. Online interviews on the book’s website see notable figures from British political life discussing the pressing issues of today. With chapters written by highly respected scholars in the field and contemporary articles on real-world politics from well-known political commentators, this textbook is an essential guide for all students of British politics.