The Myth of Independence: Why Every Nation Is Interdependent.
For much of modern history, independence was seen as the foundation of national strength. A country was sovereign if it could supply its own food, manufacture its own weapons and defend its borders without assistance. That definition has not survived the realities of the contemporary world. Every nation now relies on others for something essential, whether it is energy, microelectronics, rare materials, data storage or the software that runs critical systems. A missile may be assembled domestically but depend on imported semiconductors. A national economy may be strong but operate on a digital backbone supplied by foreign cloud providers. The question for modern defence is no longer how to be independent, but how to manage interdependence without ceding control.
Sovereignty has expanded beyond territory and treaties. It now exists in supply chains, algorithms, infrastructure and the flow of information. The UK’s Defence and Security IndustrialStrategy reflects this shift. National resilience depends not on producing everything within national borders, but on maintaining trusted control over the elements that matter most. A country can own its space assets while relying on allied software to operate them. It can maintain a domestic defence industry while still depending on foreign materials. This is not vulnerability by default. It is the structure of complex systems.
Recent events have made the limits of self-reliance clear. A global semiconductor shortage halted production of everything from vehicles to communication systems. Disruptions in energy markets forced rapid adjustments in alliances and procurement. Cyberattacks demonstrated how interwoven global supply chains have become. Each of these crises showed that isolation does not create resilience. It exposes the points where a nation is least prepared to absorb shock.
In defence, interdependence is not an unfortunate necessity but an operational reality. Alliances such as NATO, AUKUS and Five Eyes exist because no single nation can maintain technological and informational superiority across every domain. Shared intelligence, combined R&D programmes and interoperable systems create a form of distributed resilience. They allow partners to move more quickly, adapt more effectively and deter more credibly than any nation acting alone.
The key is knowing which dependencies strengthen a nation and which leave it exposed. Reliance becomes risky when it centres on a single supplier, when critical data sits outside sovereign jurisdiction or when supply chains are opaque. The task is not to sever ties but to design them. Smarter interdependence is built on visibility, traceability and diversification. This is the core of a modern sovereignty model. It keeps decision-making autonomy intact within an interconnected environment.
Technology makes this tension particularly clear. Artificial intelligence models train on global datasets. Quantum research is driven by multilateral collaboration. Microchips cross several borders and multiple manufacturing ecosystems before entering a defence platform. Highly advanced technologies are almost always the product of distributed development. The appropriate response is not to shut the system down but to ensure that national interests are protected at each stage. That means sovereign-by-design architectures, verifiable data provenance and supply chains that can withstand scrutiny.
Defence provides visible examples of this principle. Major operations now rely on multinational intelligence networks, standardised data formats and equipment built for interoperability from the outset. Supply chains stretch across continents. Satellite constellations and aircraft programmes involve multiple nations. When these arrangements are governed transparently, they do not dilute sovereignty. They extend it. They allow nations to deploy with greater speed and confidence, and to share burden and capability in ways that increase overall resilience.
Interdependence remains a target for adversaries. Pressure is applied not only through cyberattacks, economic leverage or supply chain disruption, but also through information campaigns aimed at eroding trust in alliances. Misleading narratives frame cooperation as weakness. In this environment, maintaining public and institutional confidence in legitimate partnerships becomes a defence requirement. Narrative sovereignty, built on transparent communication and verifiable performance, is now part of national resilience.
To work, interdependence must be managed openly. That means understanding where critical components originate, how data moves through systems and where the points of failure sit. It means building architectures that can be monitored in real time, using technologies such as edge intelligence to identify risk before it escalates. Transparency does not eliminate dependency, but it turns it into something that can be governed rather than feared.
Isolation creates brittleness. Networks create resilience. When nations coordinate resources, share intelligence and align standards, they gain adaptability that no isolated approach can match. This is not a replacement for sovereignty. It is one of the ways sovereignty is now exercised.
At Defence PLC, this perspective informs how we approach capability development and strategic planning. Our work focuses on four principles that support sovereign strength inside an interdependent world: maintaining core sovereign technologies within the UK, enabling secure collaboration with partners, ensuring traceable and accountable supply chains and embedding trusted governance across all systems and software. These principles align national autonomy with the reality of modern defence ecosystems.
In a connected world, control comes not from standing apart but from understanding the structure of the connections that exist. Sovereignty today is defined by the ability to operate confidently inside interdependence, not outside it. That is the model that will shape defence capability in the years ahead.