Abstract
Through the contributions of this special issue, defence planning emerges as a strategic fact with a significance of its own. Defence planning does not merely serve as a conduit for external forces, but instead appears as an independent or intermediate variable as well as a discrete arena for national security processing. In this conclusion, we return to the overall issue of defence planning as an object of study as proposed in the introduction. We identify three analytical dimensions inspired by the contributions which offer avenues for future research on defence planning. These are process versus change, the issue of national versus comparative or international dynamics, and finally hybrid or interface dynamics. It is, in other words, important to account for the roles defence planning may play with regard to affecting change in strategic affairs, to deepen our understanding of the dynamics of defence planning in central national cases such as the US as well as the international and comparative aspects of such dynamics, and finally it is important to analyse the characteristics and effects of defence planning in its wider political, administrative and strategic contexts.