Smart Power and the Strategic Deficit.

The UK's 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review asserted that there would be no ‘strategic shrinkage’ despite the significant cuts to be made to the defence budget, and thus to the country's military instrument. However, Robert Fry argues that this claim has since been shown to be unrealistic; indeed, the UK is suffering from a growing ‘strategic deficit’ – a gap between its ambitions and the means with which to fulfil them. What is needed, therefore, is not just a reassessment of the UK's national power, but a new understanding of power itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]