British strategic defence reviews: The jellyfish model of policymaking

Britain’s strategic defence and security reviews are regularly characterised as failures. This article presents original empirical data from UK policymakers and officials about how they account for this perception. Through extensive interviews and focus groups with key participants at every level of the review process, the authors identify seven key pathologies in British defence and security policymaking. Weak central direction, a disconnect between the centre and individual departments, a disconnect between departments across Whitehall, the clustering of decision-making, a lack of alignment between budget and ambition, a lack of attention to implementation, and widespread deception, are all perceived to combine to inhibit effective policymaking. In light of these insights, the authors posit a new analogical framework, the ‘jellyfish model’, in which fluid clusters of decision-makers converge to make important choices separate from supposedly core sites of strategic direction. This captures the policy process more accurately than existing rational, linear models.