Britain’s world: The strategy of security in twelve geopolitical maps

Overview

• The Council on Geostrategy is delighted to introduce Britain’s world: The strategy of security in twelve geopolitical maps, a geopolitical atlas designed to complement the National Security Strategy and the Strategic Defence Review.
• The atlas includes 12 visualisations – a combination of maps, cartograms and infographics – which explain the United Kingdom’s (UK) position and interests in the mid-21st century:
  • The national powerbase – A map outlining Britain’s critical infrastructure, including energy sources and facilities, heavy and advanced industrial areas, major transport routes, ports and key urban areas;
  • National output – A cartogram breaking down the UK into the nine regions of England, as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, comparing these 12 segments by size of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to comparable countries. It also shows GDP per capita for the 12 regions and countries;
  • Global Britain – A map of the world detailing Britain’s overseas territories, diplomatic footprint, and leading recipients of British official development assistance;
  • Undersea cables – A map outlining the countries to which Britain’s undersea communication cables connect, as well as the cables connecting the home islands;
  • Centres of world power – An infographic highlighting the most powerful nations in the world, focused on economic gravity, military might, and nuclear reach;
  • Rivals: The CRINK – An infographic of the ‘CRINK’ nations – the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russia, Iran and North Korea, and countries which are aligned with the CRINK through membership and observer and dialogue partner status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO);
  • Crunch zones – A map of CRINK infrastructure programmes, as well as the countries which are highly influenced by them, and nations which are being targeted by Chinese, Russian, Iranian and North Korean revisionism;
  • Allies and partners – An infographic breaking down Britain’s key alliances and partnerships into blocs, including: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Five Eyes, AUKUS, Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), and refreshed bilaterals;
  • Maritime reach – A map showing Britain’s naval reach, including major military facilities, and nuclear reach, as well as critical choke points and average travel times between key naval facilities and nations;
  • The strategy of security – A map demonstrating a potential British strategy to contain the CRINK nations;  
  • Defending Europe – A map centred on the North Atlantic that outlines Britain’s capabilities, key defence agreements, and security missions across the continent;
  • The Wider North – A map of the Arctic region, showing critical military bases of both NATO and Russia, and ranges for aircraft located at strategic locations.