Relevance to Resilience
Background.
Unlike the SDSR of 2010, the SDSR 2015 states acommitment to maintain defence spending at the NATO pledge level of 2% of GDP. In this way the vision to ‘protect people and values’ is based on economic security. The larger the overall pie, the bigger the Defence and Security slice. This wider economic foundation is to be supported by the active promotion of international trade, so that the SDSR’s soft power aims, such as diplomacy, multi-lateral agreement and overseas development, are logically placed alongside the aim to strengthen armed forces and security services. The resulting strategy presents a wide conception of Security and Defence as creating its own enabling economic conditions. There are four components to this strategy, and they include resilience.
- Armed Forces and Security and Intelligence.
- Soft power: Diplomacy, Overseas Aid, the BBC and the British Council.
- Alliances – a multilateral approach to global security.
- Domestic Resilience and law enforcement.
Resilience components of the National Security Objectives. There are three objectives, each of which contains a resilience component:
1. Protect our people. The overall approach is to improve the utilisation of existing assets. As regards the non-resilience aspects, although the Nuclear Deterrent is maintained the SDSR does not undertake to maintain a full spectrum of capability, but rather the intention to use the full spectrum of our capabilities. With regard to resilience the intention is to, ‘increase our communities resilience to threats and hazards; and improve the governments crisis management architecture’.
2. Protect Global Influence. The intention is to spend 0.7% of GNI on Development, to expand soft power and support a rules based international order. The resilience aspect of this is to,’help others develop their resilience and preparedness and respond more effectively to the impact of conflict and crisis.’
3. Promote our prosperity. The development of industries that produce resilience effects is seen as part of economic prosperity, which in turn supports defence and security. Therefore the aim is to, ‘support the UK
