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来源类型Report
规范类型报告
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7249/RRA213-1
来源IDRR-A213-1
The Utility of Military Force and Public Understanding in Today's Britain
Hew Strachan; Ruth Harris
发表日期2020-04-16
出版年2020
页码43
语种英语
结论

The study identified the following implications for national security:

  • 'Hybrid war' targets the role of popular opinion in shaping national strategy. 'Hybrid war' as it is now construed is less about 'real war' than about political influence as a substitute for war. The Internet and influence operations are used as part of hybrid warfare to promote messages that divide British society against itself. The reason for concern is that these divisions are already present—they can therefore be easily exploited by malign and covert actors. Britain's demonisation of 'hybrid war' rests on an implicit recognition of its own weaknesses, although they are themselves the product of a free society.
  • Social resilience is receiving increasing attention in relation to national security. Societal ownership itself underpins resilience. Awareness of the need for security creates a more robust society, and that in itself provides a level of protection as it reduces the returns on attack. Public engagement in defence creates a level of mass participation, which itself leads to resilience. This rests on the integration of the armed forces within the community, and in particular on direct evidence of their contribution to security. A lack of mature public engagement creates a lack of national resilience.
  • The effect of ignoring domestic resilience is to undermine deterrence. As with resilience, societal ownership strengthens deterrence. If the public do not understand what they are interested in defending or what they will fight for, then the enemy will assume that the democratic state will pursue every policy option short of war, but not war itself.
摘要

The presence of a communication gap between the government and the public on matters of defence policy can undermine the development of strategy and potential for the coherent use of military force. The Global Strategic Partnership (GSP) was therefore commissioned by the UK's Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) to challenge the traditional relationships between the UK's military, government and people, explore the relevance of the construct for the 21st Century, and the implications of this evolving relationship for the nature of the utility of force. The British government perceives the public as reluctant to support the cost of defence and unpersuaded of the utility of military force. Yet the formation of effective strategy in a democracy requires conversations both between the government and its civil service and armed forces, and between the government and its electorate. These two conversations are often conducted in different registers, undermining the coherence of national strategy. Moreover, the public is not a monolith, but a community that includes opinion formers, spouses of service personnel, and former armed forces personnel, all of them groups whose members engage with the use of force as do those in government. To generate a mature attitude to the use of armed force and, if necessary, to the utility of war itself, Britain will require a mature debate about defence—one that trusts and engages the public, allows the armed forces to participate in the discussion, and in which the government enables and enhances the structures to permit those conversations.

目录
  • Chapter One

    The problem: British doubts regarding the use of military force

  • Chapter Two

    The supposed 'fickleness' of democracy

  • Chapter Three

    The problem's formulation: the Clausewitzian trinity and the importance of the people to effectiveness in war

  • Chapter Four

    The place of the people in making national strategy: Four approaches

  • Chapter Five

    The implications for national security

  • Chapter Six

    Conclusions and policy implications

主题Civil-Military Relations ; Community Resilience ; Military Strategy
URLhttps://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA213-1.html
来源智库RAND Corporation (United States)
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条目标识符http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/524065
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Hew Strachan,Ruth Harris. The Utility of Military Force and Public Understanding in Today's Britain. 2020.
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