Education of seapower transcends a change of government

Warships IFR Magazine Article September 2024.

In the September 2024 edition of Warships International Fleet Review, (on sale in e-version and print in the UK & abroad after 16 August 2024) I argue that education for and about seapower transcends a change in Government for they are strategic assets of the state that require planning. They are ill-suited to change direction with the whims and changing winds of politics. I build the case that the politicization of defence is undermining having a national strategy and strategic thought.

The editor remarks:

SEAPOWER AND ITS IMPORTANCE TO DEFENDING THE UK TRANSCENDS A CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT

With a new government in the United Kingdom, Dr James WE Smith, elaborates on some others he has previously discussed in the magazine. Now he addressed the need to educate politicians fresh to positions of power about how to achieve a decisive defence review rather than just fiddle at the edges and achieve nothing. He suggests hard questions need to be asked about the direction taken in recent decades.

This builds on the theme that seablindness cannot be defeated but can be tamed, but education about defence to civilians is crucial if a national strategy is ever going to work or be implemented.

The full article is available in print and e-print. The publishers website is:

https://warshipsifr.com/

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