PRESS

1998: SDR.
The July 1998 SDR marked a fundamental transition
in UK strategic outlook. The confusion and lack
of direction brought about by the collapse of the 20thcentury
Cold War strategic order gave way to a mood
of cautious engagement with an emergent 21st-century
strategic order characterized by insecurity, diversity,
and urgency.
The SDR had six significant themes, each of which
has resonated powerfully in the UK national strategic
debate ever since. The first of these was the Labour
government’s determination to conduct a “foreignpolicy
led strategic defence review”—an acknowledgement
that in all the complexity of the emerging
international security order, it made little sense for
foreign policy and national defense to be considered
separate domains. 14
The second theme was risk management. The tone
of the SDR was cautious:
there is today no direct military threat to the United
Kingdom or Western Europe. Nor do we foresee the
re-emergence of such a threat. But we cannot take this
for granted. 15
Importantly, the argument advanced here was not
that a defense posture of the Cold War style should
therefore be maintained “just in case,” but that it was a
“vital British interest” that these benign trends should
be encouraged by UK foreign policy. The implication
for UK national strategy and defense was that they
should move from “stability based on fear to stability
based on the active management of these risks.” 16
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