A new review sets out an ambitious if gloomy vision
the British government published a sweeping review of foreign, defence, development and security policy dubbed the “Integrated Review”. The world was becoming more competitive and fragmented, it warned. Just how much so it could not have guessed. That summer Kabul fell to the Taliban. Then, a few months later, Russia invaded Ukraine. And Sino-American relations appear to be in freefall. The government has accordingly given the review a spritz.
The new report tackles two of the criticisms levelled against the original. One was that it had a Europe-shaped hole. At the time, Boris Johnson, then prime minister, was waging diplomatic trench warfare with the European Union. Rishi Sunak, the current prime minister, has achieved an armistice by signing the “”, a deal over Northern Ireland, and soothing relations with France, notably through a summit with Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, on March 10th.
The second gripe was that Mr Johnson’s “tilt” to the Indo-Pacific region was boosterish folly, not least after Russian tanks had rolled into Ukraine. The review declares the tilt a success, largely thanks to non-military instruments such as trade and diplomacy. The policy also looks more substantial than it once did.
The document’s tone is sober, often gloomy. “The transition into a multipolar, fragmented and contested world has happened more quickly and definitively than anticipated,” it acknowledges. “The risk ofis greater than at any time in decades.” China and Russia, growing closer, are among the authoritarian powers working “to undermine the international system or remake it in their image”.
The report avoids bombastic talk of Britain as a superpower. The phrase “Global Britain”, a favoured slogan under Mr Johnson, has been exiled. But it recognises British strengths, notably in science and technology. Mr Sunak promises to spend £20bn per year by 2024-25 on research and development, a one-third increase on the current level. Priorities include artificial intelligence, semiconductors, telecommunications and engineering biology.
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