The British armed services and the participation of minority ethnic communities: from equal opportunities to diversity?

This paper examines the commitments enshrined in the Strategic Defence Review White Paper to make the armed forces more genuinely representative of the British population, notably with respect to ethnicity. It identifies some conceptual problems associated with the way in which those commitments are presented and with the arguments usually deployed in support of their pursuit. It suggests that a fundamental re-assessment is required of the concept of representativeness, which is at the heart of current policy commitments, if their planned practical outcomes are to be achieved. The paper asks whether a shift in focus from equal opportunities to diversity offers the prospect of resolving some of the dilemmas and obstacles identified. It concludes by suggesting that the concept of diversity is itself not unproblematic – particularly in a military context – and that it could offer a solution only if it were embraced hand in hand with a much more explicit acceptance of the diversity of the political community. This would mean nothing less than a reassessment of what it means to be British in the twenty first century and a more sophisticated grasp of what would be entailed in being representative of such a nation.