The project is led by Dr. Catarina Thomson, in collaboration with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute (SSI).

Constraints on the Design of Security Policy:
Insights from Audience Costs Theory and Security and Defence Elites in the United Kingdom

Economic and Social Research Council Project (ES/L010879/1, October 2015-September 2017)

In recent years, the way in which the United Kingdom (UK) designs its security policies has changed significantly. The process began in 2008 with the creation of the National Security Strategy, and accelerated in 2010, with the establishment of a standing UK National Security Council and regular quinquennial Strategic Defence and Security Reviews. This multi-method project investigates the security policy attitudes and preferences of members of the UK’s foreign, defence, diplomatic and security policy communities, with the aim of identifying whether the redesign of the security policy apparatus can be considered fit for purpose.

The project is led by Dr. Catarina Thomson, in collaboration with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute (SSI), and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Direct beneficiaries of the research carried out for this project include representatives of the security and defence communities in the United Kingdom such as the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC), and the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS). Indirect beneficiaries include members of the broader civil society such NGOs, the media, and pressure groups. Research findings will be presented at a practitioner workshop to be carried out at RUSI in September of 2017.

  • Dr. David Blagden
    • Dr. David Blagden specializes in UK foreign and defence policy, nuclear strategy, and domestic political and economic pressures on strategic behaviour 
  • Dr. Lorien Jasny
    • Dr. Jasny is a computational social scientist specializing in the study of social and organizational networks
  • Professor Jason Reifler
    • Professor Reifler studies political behaviour and has examined public opinion about foreign policy in the United Kingdom and America 
  • Professor Thomas Scotto
    • Professor Scotto studies public opinion regarding foreign policy in the United Kingdom and America 

Catarina P Thomson and David Blagden (2018). A Very British National Security State: Formal and informal institutions in the design of UK security policy British Journal of Politics and International Relations20(3), 573-593.

Catarina P Thomson (2018). Mind the Gap: Comparing Foreign Policy Attitudes of Security Elites and the General Public, Whitehall report.

Baele SJ, Thomson C (2017). An Experimental Agenda for Securitization Theory. International Studies Review Full textDOI.

Thomson, C, Reifler J, and Scotto T. (2017). REPORT FOR DEFENCE SELECT COMMITTEE Perceptions on NATO and Defence Policy Public Opinion in the UK, France, Germany and the United States and Security Elite Views in the UK (it is available online here)

Thomson, C. (2016) Public Support for Economic and Military Coercion and Audience Costs, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, SAGE (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1369148115615030)

This joint RUSI-University of Exeter event on UK security policy will take place on Tuesday, 19 September 2017 at the RUSI Library.

We are delighted to confirm the following speakers:

  • Mr Nicholas Beadle CMG
  • Professor Malcolm Chalmers
  • Professor Michael Clarke
  • Dr Jonathan Eyal
  • Thomas Raines
  • Professor Jason Reifler
  • Dina Smeltz
  • Professor Gareth Stansfield
  • Dr Catarina Thomson

Event presentations will respond to and discuss findings from the Economic and Social Research Council Project (ES/L010879/1) “Constraints on the Design of Security Policy: Insights from Audience Costs Theory and Security and Defence Elites in the United Kingdom”.

Three panels will focus on the following key areas:

 (1) Formal and Informal Interactions in the National Security Council and the fixed-term Strategic Defence and Security Review

What are the roles of central government institutions in the design and implementation of effective national security policy? Using the case of post-2010 reform to Britain’s central government security policy machinery, we find that formal institutions can help the informal strategy-making institutions on their periphery to function better. Through interviews with 23 high-ranking officials, we find that Britain’s National Security Council and quinquennial Strategic Defence and Security Reviews – both instituted in 2010 with the intention of improving UK security policymaking – remain limited as formal makers of national strategy. But the networks of individuals and ideas they support, by absolving some decision-makers of audience costs while immersing others in creative yet coherent strategy-development communities, have improved the overall quality of UK security policymaking compared to its pre-2010 condition.

Discussants include Mr. Nicholas Beadle CMG (RUSI) and Professor Michael Clarke (University of Exeter, King’s College London and University of Aberystwyth).

(2) Foreign Policy Attitudes and Security Policy Preferences: Comparing UK Elites and the General Public

In recent years, the way in which the UK designs its security policies has changed significantly. An in-depth survey of foreign policy attitudes and security policy preferences was designed and fielded among national elites and area experts. The survey is a joint Exeter-RUSI collaboration and constitutes the first survey of this kind to be fielded on security-policy experts in the UK, with the aim of identifying whether the redesign of the security policy apparatus can be considered fit for purpose in a world where security threats may unexpectedly emerge from state actors such as the Russian government, or non-state actors such as terrorist organizations. In addition to collecting data on security elites’ views and preferences, we also asked them what they anticipated the mass public preferences on these topics were. We followed the same two-step process when surveying members of the public in order to assess if elites or mass audiences have a better grasp of other groups views. Topics covered include views on post-Brexit EU defence integration.

Discussants will include Thomas Raines (Chatham House).

(3) How wide is that Pond Anyway: Comparing Foreign Policy Attitudes and Security Policy Preferences of UK and US elites

After an initial exploratory phase consisting of in-depth interviews with British security elites, a survey of foreign and security policy attitudes was designed and fielded with members of the Defence Academy and RUSI. Respondents were asked items routinely employed in similar elite surveys in the United States, to enable a cross-national comparison of security differences and communalities. Topics covered include: vital national interests we will face in the next decade, principal foreign policy goals, as well as views on allied defence (particularly NATO). We also compare shared (and diverging) views towards Russian expansionism and employ sociological entailment network analyses to identify clusters of security elites who justify supporting military action against Russia based on national security justifications versus a moral imperative to intervene. The expected effects of Trump’s presidency on American foreign policy are also explored.

Discussants include Professor Jason Reifler (University of Exeter) and Dina Smeltz (Chicago Council on Global Affairs).

Schedule

Start time

 

 

09.00

Coffee, registration

 

09.30

Welcome & Introductory Remarks

 

09.45

Panel 1

Formal and Informal Interactions in the National Security Council and the fixed-term Strategic Defence and Security Review

11.00

Refreshments

 

11.30

Panel 2

Foreign Policy Attitudes and Security Policy Preferences: Comparing UK Elites and the General Public

12.45

Lunch

 

13.45

Panel 3

How wide is that Pond Anyway: Comparing Foreign Policy Attitudes and Security Policy Preferences of UK and US elites

15:00

Tea

 

15.15

Plenary

 

16:00

Closing remarks

 

16:15

Ends