November 28, 2018

A Question of Power

Towards Better UK Strategy Through Net Assessment

A “Global Britain” engaged in a long-term international competition needs to play a much more efficient and finely tuned strategic game.

In A Question of Power, Policy Exchange sets out the case for the establishment of a new MoD Office of Net Assessment, based on the highly successful 45-year-old US model, to facilitate a restoration of British strategy-making capacity and to deal with first-order defence questions.

Net assessment is a framework for the strategic analysis of military balances. It measures the hard power of nations in relation to each other, rather than each on its own terms. This kind of analysis, projected over the long term, helps support more effective defence policies in conditions of military–strategic competition. Such a capability is urgently required today in view of the highly competitive nature of global geopolitics.

Great power competition has returned and it is important UK strategy maximises the contribution that our world-class Armed Forces can make. I’m fully committed to ensuring the MoD plays its part in making a success of Global Britain – this timely Policy Exchange paper is a welcome contribution to the debate on the future of UK strategy-making.

Authors

Gabriel Elefteriu

Director of Strategy and Space Policy

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