Britain’s strategic tilt to the Indo-Pacific, security and policy debate

The war in Ukraine has raised fresh doubts over the will and ability of European states to play a meaningful role in the Indo-Pacific. In the United Kingdom, there is a lively debate over the utility of its ‘tilt’ to the region, first announced in the 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development, and Foreign Policy.

In this talk, Dr William James of King's Centre for Grand Strategy will explore the rationale and efficacy of small or ‘token’ defence deployments – with a specific focus on the defence component of the Indo-Pacific tilt. He challenges the assumption that tokenistic deployments are always a strategically unsound idea. He contends that the naval effort in the Indo-Pacific – as currently constituted – will not cause undue strain on the UK’s broader defence efforts in the Euro-Atlantic.

This event is part of the King's India Institute, Indo-Pacific webinar series. The event took place on 5 June 2023.