- fills a gap in the literature on how defence policy is made in contemporary Britain
- focuses on the mechanics of policy making, by looking at a wide variety of policy actors, from cabinet ministers to mass media and public opinion
- follows the Westminster model, which is the best fit for the centralised nature of defence policy formation
- author is an experienced and well-known scholar of British policymaking
'Robert Self has produced a timely and vitally important book for anyone wanting to understand the myriad problems facing modern British defence policy makers. The outstanding research and analysis into critical linkages between economics, domestic politics and foreign policy issues in that process is unrivalled.'
Greg Kennedy, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom
'Making British Defence Policy fills an important gap in the literature on how defence policy is made in contemporary Britain. It does so by moving beyond analysis of the substance of recent British defence policy, focussing instead on the often-neglected issues of how that policy is actually made, who makes it and the interaction of factors that shape it.'
Matthew Uttley, King's College London, UK
'This book is an important wake-up call. Poorly co-ordinated and opaque processes have long bedevilled British defence policymaking. These problems have occasionally been obscured by campaign successes, yet the underlying problems so forensically examined here nonetheless persist.'
Pippa Catterall, University of Westminster, UK
Robert Self is a specialist in interwar Britain having published several important archival studies including a biography of Neville Chamberlain and a study of the inter-Allied war debt controversy between 1917 and 1941. Since his retirement as Professor of British Politics and Contemporary History, he has turned his attention to the study of recent British foreign and defence policy.
1 Making Defence Policy in Contemporary Britain
2 The diplomatic and economic context for defence policy-making
3 The Ministry of Defence in transition
4 The Prime Minister and the 'central direction of defence'
5 Cabinet government and defence policy
6 The Defence Secretary and their department
7 Departmental politics within the Whitehall village
8 The Treasury and financial control in an age of austerity
9 Civil-military relations in Britain
10 The Armed Forces, judiciary and the fear of legal encirclement
11 The influence of Parliament over defence policy
12 Political parties, pressure groups and public opinion
13 Conclusions
Bibliography
Appendix: Ministers, Permanent Under-Secretaries and Chief of Defence Staff at the Ministry of Defence since 1946