The containment of the relative decline of the United Kingdom: the British strategic retrenchment in the Indo-Pacific (1990-2021)

• Grant number: 22/14540-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Samuel Alves Soares
• Grantee: João Vitor Tossini
• Supervisor: Zeno Leoni
• Host Institution: Instituto de Políticas Públicas e Relações Internacionais (IPPRI). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: King's College London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/06878-4 - The containment of the relative decline of the United Kingdom: the British strategic retrenchment in the Indo-Pacific (1990-2021), BP.DR

Abstract

The primary objective of this research is to analyses how the United Kingdom (UK) handled its strategic retrenchment in the post-Cold War era with a focus on the strategies employed by the country to preserve its military capabilities and in accommodation of its global ambitions with increasing limited material resources. The choice of the UK case lies in the fact that it remains one of the largest world economies, has a significant defense budget and industry along with a global system of power projection, territories and expanding military bases overseas, in addition to being a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a central member of the Commonwealth of Nations. These characteristics support the hypothesis that the UK adopted strategies that minimized its relative decline and adjusted the country to a new position, moving from hegemon to a Great Power that did not strategically abandon several regions, such as the Indo-Pacific. Lastly, this research differs from the majority of the analyses in its field for its focus on the process of containment of a Great Power's decline, leaving the causes as a background issue. (AU)