The interaction with Mr. Gerald Howarth, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, at the Ministry of Defence, the United Kingdom, as Minister for International Security Strategy.,aimed bring into focus the process and the organisational structure of National Strategy making in the United Kingdom, and any cases of study that could be borrowed in the Indian exercise on the same.

The discussion agenda incorporated the following questions:

• How does the UK view the usefulness of a National Security Strategy/Defence Review Exercise? Does it help evolve consensus among political parties and government agencies? How does it impact the citizens in general, UK allies and other EU members? Why does UK consider retaining nuclear weapons essential? What is UK’s long term strategy for dealing with religious terrorism?
• Both India and the UK operate defence establishments with common traditions and similarities. How and why did India’s post-independence evolution move away from the traditional structures?
• Is the British military more integrated with British society as compared to the Indian military?
• How many former military men participate in active politics in Britain? How do they interface with politics and civil society in general?
• What factors explain the efficient functional relationship between the civilian and military components of UK MoD?
• British society has the reputation of being stratified and even hierarchical in some ways In interactions between civilians and military personnel of UK MoD there is no sign of such hierarchical structures/relations? If so, how can this be explained?
• The content of military education in the UK in so far as democratic oversight is concerned?
• The relationship between defence establishment and the parliament
• How important is UK defence as an electoral issue?
• Did the UK MoD experience any serious strains between the civil and the military elements? If so, how were they addressed?
• How is the UK MoD organized? Details regarding the lines of authority and working relationship at different levels

The Minister emphasized the various dimensions of UK’s national strategy, pointing out that UK’s defence and security policies go together. In this context, he pointed to the committees setup (their composition and responsibilities) to further perpetuate their strategies in this context, viz the National Security Council and the Defence Executive Committee. He also added that the United Kingdom seeks to fulfil its goals by adopting an adaptive posture and shape the world order rather than be shaped by it.

Report prepared by Haifa Peerzada, Research Intern, IDSA