ABSTRACT
Introduction In the extensive literature on post-1945 British defence the term 'management' has been applied loosely to cover such diverse topics as the administrative and bureaucratic structures within which defence decisions have been formulated, 1 the performance of postwar British defence reviews2 and the management of major military equipment projects.' In the context of debates about Britain's relative post-1945 decline, attention has tended to focus on attempts by successive governments to manage the balance between defence resources and commitments. This emphasis reflects the 'affordability' constraint that has plagued policy-makers as the postwar costs of defence commitments have risen at higher rates than defence budgets. At issue in this debate has been the efficacy of government attempts to implement 'economies', or reductions in military commitments in response to declining resources.4
