The Whitehall Paper series provides in-depth studies of specific developments, issues or themes in the field of national and international defence and security. Published twice a year, Whitehall Papers reflect the highest standards of original research and analysis, and are invaluable background material for policy-makers and specialists alike.
Edited
By Cathy Haenlein, M L R Smith
June 13, 2017
A worldwide surge in poaching and wildlife trafficking is threatening to decimate endangered species. This crisis also threatens the security of human beings in ways ignored until recently by decision-makers slow to begin to treat what is typically viewed as a ‘conservation issue’ as serious crime....
By Shashank Joshi
March 31, 2016
India is growing into one of Asia’s most important military powers. Its defence budget has more than doubled in the past decade, and it imports more arms than anyone else in the world. But India is still seen as a land power focused on long, disputed and militarised borders with Pakistan and China ...
By Andrea Berger
January 21, 2016
A UN arms embargo has been in place against North Korea for nearly a decade, as part of a broader sanctions regime designed to deny it the goods and funds needed to fuel its nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile programmes. Yet despite these sanctions, a host of state and non-state actors continue ...
By Malcolm Chalmers
February 01, 2013
Despite the rise of ‘new’ security threats like terrorism, cyber-war and piracy, the terrible destructive power of nuclear weapons still hangs over the world. Discussion on further strategic nuclear arms reduction has tended to be dominated by the analysis of possible trade-offs between the US and ...
By Peter Albrecht, Paul Jackson
June 11, 2015
Between 1991 and 2002, Sierra Leone was wracked by a devastating civil war and the complete collapse of state institutions. Since then, however, the UK’s contribution to post-war reconstruction has been widely held up as an example of successful stabilisation and state-building – particularly of ...
By Michael Clarke
June 22, 2012
In 2006, British forces entered the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in what would become one of the defining military campaigns of the decade. At great cost in blood and treasure, the UK waged a protracted counter-insurgency against a resurgent Taliban. But how was the decision taken to commit ...
By Henrik Heidenkamp, John Louth, Trevor Taylor
May 28, 2014
The relationship between government and the businesses that contribute towards the defence and security of the state is a critical one; it often underscores a modern state’s foreign policy and sense of place in the world. Yet, despite its clear importance, this subject is underexplored and rarely ...
By Aaron Stein
July 19, 2015
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), after coming to power in 2002, sought to play a larger diplomatic role in the Middle East. The AKP adopted a proactive foreign policy to create ‘strategic depth’ by expanding Turkey’s zone of influence in the region, drawing on the opportunities of ...
By Rohan Maxwell, John Andreas Olsen
March 24, 2014
Defence reform has been a major component of Bosnia’s stabilisation and nation-building. Though true for many cases of post-conflict transition, it is especially so for Bosnia, which arguably has the most complex state structure in Europe. Ten years on from the start of Bosnia’s defence-reform ...
By Shashank Joshi
April 04, 2013
The quickening pace of Iran’s nuclear activities has produced an international sense of urgency. Sanctions have intensified, while fears of an Israeli strike abound. Talks have briefly eased the tension, before failing due to fundamental differences between Iran and the West. There seem to be dim ...
By Alan Heyes, Wyn Q. Bowen, Hugh Chalmers
September 27, 2012
The 9/11 terrorist attacks prompted a new urgency in efforts to deal with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear proliferati on. The potential acquisition and use by terrorist groups of such weaponry was suddenly a much increased threat. The G8 Global Partnership against the Spread of ...
By Paul Berkman
February 06, 2012
The North Pole is being transformed from a sea-ice cap to a seasonally ice-free sea within the next few decades. This fundamental shift in the boundary conditions of the Arctic Ocean will create a new natural system with different dynamics than anything previously experienced by humans in the ...