ENSURING THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF GREAT BRITAIN FROM D. CAMERON TO T. MAY: STRATEGIES AND REALITIES

In recent years, ensuring the national security of the UK has become an urgent and challenging task. This article aims to analyze the main goals in the sphere of national security, which were outlined in British strategic documents - in particular, the National Security Strategies of 2010 and 2015, and the accompanying strategic defense and security reviews. The author examines the methods used to achieve these goals, and the actual accomplishments in the security sector. In addition to scientific literature, the article studies recent official government documents in the sphere of national security and defense, as well as relevant materials of leading British “think tanks” and British media. The author enquires into practical results that have been achieved by the D. Cameron government in the main areas of national security: anti-terrorism efforts, resolution of armed conflicts and instability abroad, and fighting cyberterrorism. In view of the results of the referendum on the country's membership in the European Union, UK has found itself entangled in an entirely different paradigm of relations with the EU, while trying to resolve its own internal political problems. Therefore, matters of international, as well as national, security have slid by the wayside. At the same time, British government maintains continuity of the national security policy in terms of responding to significant threats. Under T. May, the danger of terrorism, threatening Europe and the entire world, has become a matter of urgency for UK. Consequently, the May government will most likely be forced to change its course of action, and perhaps rewrite the whole strategy of ensuring national security, as well as adopt a number of unpopular, harsh measures. In the period between 2015 and 2020, terrorism, international military conflicts, pandemics and natural risks remain the first level risks for Great Britain. Long term, geopolitical and economic changes on the global scale are expected to be the prevailing risk factors. Climate change is also gaining significance and starting from 2035 it is predicted to have the greatest impact on national security.