First published in 1979. The report of the Labour Party Defence Study Group, which met from early 1975 to mid-1977, represents a unique attempt to portray defence policy in the context of disarmament and the need to restructure and control the institutions of defence – in particular the defence industry.
The report presented the fullest study made by any British political party concerning the implications and consequences of its stated defence policy, and embodied an examination of defence from the perspective of approaches of disarmament. At the same time, the search for a new policy in international relations was harmonised with the further development of a new industrial strategy, concentrating upon the potential for converting part of military industry to civil work.
This work which presents a distinctive intervention in the general debate concerning defence policy, industrial and technological planning, economic priorities and public policy, will be of considerable relevance to both specialists in each of these fields as well as the general reader.
Acknowledgements; Foreword Olof Palme; Introduction Mary Kaldor, Dan
Smith and Steve Vines; Part One: The Study Group Report; Foreword Ron
Hayward; Introduction Ian Mikardo;
1. Why Cut Defence Spending? A Summary of
the Arguments
2. Current Defence Effort and the Necessary Level of Cuts
3.
Defence Expenditure and the Economy
4. The Strategic and Political
Implications of Defence Cuts
5. Creating New Jobs
6. The Arms Trade; Part
Two: The Study Group Papers;
1. Observations on the Proposal to Align UK
Defence Expenditure with the Average Percentage Spent on Defence by the FRG,
Italy and France Paul Cockle
2. Defence Programme Options to 1980-1 (and
Postscript) David Greenwood
3. Note on the Budget Approach and a Programme
Which Retains in the UK Nuclear Strategic and Economic Implications Alan Lee
Williams
4. Strategic and Political Implications of Reduced Defence
Programmes Dan Smith
5. Military Expenditure and the Economy
6. Note on the
Military Expenditure and National Product: UK and Certain Other Countries
Frank Blackaby
7. The Resource Cost of Military Expenditure Ron Smith
8.
Defence Costs and the Defence Industry Mary Kaldor
9. The Employment and
Other Economic Consequences of Reduced Defence Spending (and Postscript)
David Greenwood
10. Note on the Employment Consequences of a £1,000 Million
Cut (at 1974 Prices) in Military Expenditure Over Five Years Frank Blackaby
11. Military Expenditure Cuts: Note on the Transfer of Resources Frank
Blackaby
12. Aspects of Conversion of Arms Industries Dan Smith
13.
Alternative Employment for Naval Shipbuilding Workers: A Case Study of the
Resources Devoted to the Production of the ASW Cruiser Mary Kaldor and Albert
Booth
14. Tornado: Cancellation, Conversion and Diversification in the
Aerospace Industry Dan Smith
15. Community Planning and Base Conversion Dan
Smith
16. The Lucas Aerospace Corporate Plan Steve Vines
17. The Vickers
Proposals: Building a Chieftain Tank and the Alternative Use of Resources The
Vickers National Combine Committee of Shop Stewards; Part Three: The
Ministerial Response; Study into Defence Spending Summary of Conclusions
John Gilbert, John Tomlinson and James Wellbeloved; Appendices; Notes on
Contributors; Index
Mary Henrietta Kaldor CBE is a British academic, currently Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics, where she is also the Director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit.
