Chapter 5 – Project Our Global Influence 47 Chapter 5 – Project Our Global Influence Overview 5.1 National Security Objective 2 is to project our global influence – reducing the likelihood of threats materialising and affecting the UK, our interests, and those of our allies and partners. 5.2 This chapter sets out how the Government will use our global influence to protect and promote our interests and values, supporting our security and prosperity. We will use our diplomats, development assistance, Armed Forces, security and intelligence agencies, law enforcement and soft power. We will invest more in our relationships with our traditional allies and partners and build stronger partnerships around the world, to multiply what we can achieve alone. We will work with our allies and partners to strengthen, adapt and extend the rules-based international order and its institutions, enabling further participation of growing powers. We will be more ambitious in tackling conflict and building stability overseas, and we will help others to develop their resilience and preparedness, including for the global challenges of climate and health security. A. Global influence 5.3 Our influence, across foreign, defence and security policy, development, business and academia, and through our cultural and people-to-people links, enables us to attract and persuade other countries to work for the same outcomes as we do, and to deter and enforce in support of our goals. This is a unique and powerful asset, built up over generations. We aim to be the leading soft power nation, using our resources to build the relationships that can project and enhance our influence in the world. Diplomacy and our global network 5.4 Although we will maintain the ability to defend the UK by force if required, we do not stand alone in confronting threats to our country, our people and interests, and the international order. Our diplomacy will continue to build alliances and partnerships on which we can rely in times of crisis, and to help us to tackle threats at source. Through strong diplomacy we will stay at the heart of the international system, playing a full and active role in the world’s leading decision-making bodies, and negotiating political agreements that support our security and our interests. We will continue to shape the global agenda, and to develop and adapt international standards and laws, and the rules-based international order to meet the challenges of the future.