Recording: National Security without Development?
Former military and intelligence personnel discuss the security and defence implications of Western aid cuts and the strategic costs of retrenchment.
In Conversation: Defence, Development and the Cost of Retrenchment
Speakers:
Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb KBE CMG DSO, former Director Special Forces and former Commander of the Field Army
The Lord Evans of Weardale KCB DL, former Director General, Security Service (MI5); Chair, The HALO Trust
Moderated by Rachel Ellehuus, Director-General, RUSI
RUSI hosted a discussion on the security and defence implications of reductions in Western development assistance, and what this means for the UK's ability to mitigate, manage and/or resolve violence across fragile and conflict-affected states. Against a backdrop of heightened global instability, from the war in Ukraine to conflict in the Middle East, governments across the West are reassessing their security priorities. The session brings together two senior figures from the British military and intelligence communities to examine the relationship between national security, development and defence.
Drawing on their own experience of command, operations and national security decision-making, the speakers considered how international development can contribute to security and stability, the role that aid and wider soft and smart power play in supporting UK security objectives, and how the UK and likeminded partners should respond to a more fragmented and contested geopolitical landscape. They also considered what to prioritise across fragile and conflict-affected states as Western aid budgets contract.
The event is of particular interest to those working on UK foreign and security policy, defence, intelligence, conflict prevention and stabilisation, and international development, and forms part of the RUSI project 'UK Security in a Post-Aid World', supported by the Strategic Communications and Advocacy Lab.
