Choose Your Weapons

Choose Your Weapons
Author: Douglas Hurd
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0297858513

Noisy popular liberal interventionism? Or a more conservative, diplomatic approach concentrating on co-operation between nations? This is the debate that lies at the heart of modern politics and Hurd traces its most interesting and influential exponents. He starts with Canning and Castelreagh in post Waterloo Britain; to a generation later, the victory of the interventionist Palmerston over Aberdeen; then to Salisbury (Imperialism) and Grey (European balance of power); and finally to Eden and Bevin who combined to lay the foundations of a post-war compromise. That delicate balance has served its purpose for over half a century, but as we enter a new era of terrorism and racial conflict, the old questions and divisions are re-surfacing . . .

The Future of British Foreign Policy

The Future of British Foreign Policy
Author: Christopher Hill
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019-03-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781509524617

Since 1945, Britain has had to cope with a slow descent from international primacy. The decline in global influence was intended to be offset by the United Kingdom’s entry into Europe in 1975, with the result that national foreign policy came to rest on the two pillars of the Atlantic alliance and the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU. Yet, with Brexit, one of these pillars is now being removed, leaving Britain facing some serious challenges arising from the prospect of independence. In this incisive book, Christopher Hill explores what lies ahead for British foreign policy in the shadows of Brexit and a more distant and protectionist America under Donald Trump. While there is much talk of a renewed global profile for the UK, Hill cautions that this is going to be difficult to turn into practical reality. Geography, history and limited resources mean that Britain is doomed to seek a continued foreign policy partnership with the Member States of the Union – only now it will be from outside the room looking in. As a result, there is the distinct possibility that both British and European foreign policies will end up worse off as the result of their divorce.

Between Empire and Continent

Between Empire and Continent
Author: Andreas Rose
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 542
Release: 2017-05-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1785335790

Prior to World War I, Britain was at the center of global relations, utilizing tactics of diplomacy as it broke through the old alliances of European states. Historians have regularly interpreted these efforts as a reaction to the aggressive foreign policy of the German Empire. However, as Between Empire and Continent demonstrates, British foreign policy was in fact driven by a nexus of intra-British, continental and imperial motivations. Recreating the often heated public sphere of London at the turn of the twentieth century, this groundbreaking study carefully tracks the alliances, conflicts, and political maneuvering from which British foreign and security policy were born.

A special relationship?

A special relationship?
Author: Simon Tate
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2024-06-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1526184125

This book addresses the special relationship from the perspective of post-Second World War British governments. It asks how they have perceived the special relationship and performed a foreign policy role within it? This enables the book to argue that Britain’s foreign policy challenges the dominant idea that its power has been waning and that it sees itself as the junior partner to the hegemonic US. The book also shows how at moments of international crisis successive British governments have attempted to re-play the same foreign policy role within the special relationship. By setting contemporary foreign policy into its historical context, it provides fresh insights into why Tony Blair’s government felt it must participate in the Iraq War and questions anew why this decision was flawed. The book concludes that these failings are likely to be re-played and demonstrates why the special relationship’s role in British foreign policy must be urgently re-thought.

The British Labour Party and the Wider World

The British Labour Party and the Wider World
Author: Paul Corthorn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2007-10-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857711113

The legacy of Blair and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan continue to loom large for the Labour Party, whether in opposition or in government, giving rise to fierce debates over Labour's attitude and posture towards the wider world. This book considers the idea of Labour's international identity, examining how world events and Labour's response to them have helped to shape ideology, political culture and domestic agendas from the 1920s until the Iraq War. It provides a fascinating and original exploration of Labour both on the world stage and at home - from the influence of the Soviet Union on political thought in the interwar years to the international student revolts of the 1960s, and from media in the 1990s to Kosovo and New Labour Interventionism. This is essential reading for scholars of modern British politics, as well as anyone interested in the motivations and influences behind the Labour Party's actions on the world stage.

British Foreign Policy

British Foreign Policy
Author: Jamie Gaskarth
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2013-07-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0745670008

Britain has been a significant voice in global politics in the last two decades and its impact on world events far outweighs its material resources. But how does a small island on the edge of Europe continue to exercise this level of power on an international scale? What kind of actor is Britain internationally? And what future challenges will confront British foreign policymakers in a multi-polar world of emerging powers? In this comprehensive introduction to British foreign policy today Jamie Gaskarth addresses these and other key questions. Against a rich historical backdrop, he examines the main actors and processes involved in British foreign policy-making as well as the role played by identity in shaping such choices. Later chapters focus on the relationship between economics and foreign policy, what it means to be ethical in this policy sphere, and the justification for and benefits of the UK’s continued use of force to achieve its foreign policy goals. Combining interview research, theoretical insight and analysis of contemporary and historical trends, this book charts how British foreign policy has come to be understood and practised in the 21st Century. It will be an invaluable guide for students of British politics, foreign policy, international relations and related courses.

Perceptions of the Press in Nineteenth-Century British Periodicals

Perceptions of the Press in Nineteenth-Century British Periodicals
Author: E. M. Palmegiano
Publisher: Anthem Press
Total Pages: 713
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9781843317562

This annotated bibliography of nineteenth-century British periodicals, complete with a detailed subject index, reveals how Victorian commentaries on journalism shaped the discourse on the origins and contemporary character of the domestic, imperial and foreign press. Drawn from a wide range of publications representing diverse political, economic, religious, social and literary views, this book contains over 4,500 entries, and features extracts from over forty nineteenth-century periodicals. The articles cataloged offer a thorough and influential analysis of their journalistic milieu, presenting statistics on sales and descriptions of advertising, passing judgment on space allocations, pinpointing different readerships, and identifying individuals who engaged with the press either exclusively or occasionally. Most importantly, the bibliography demonstrates that columnists routinely articulated ideas about the purpose of the press, yet rarely recognized the illogic of prioritizing public good and private profit simultaneously, thus highlighting implicitly a universal characteristic of journalism: its fractious, ambiguous, conflicting behavior.

Empire

Empire
Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 681
Release: 2012-10-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 0241958512

Niall Ferguson's acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain's empire 'A remarkably readable précis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all' Jan Morris Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity. 'The most brilliant British historian of his generation ... Ferguson examines the roles of "pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts" in the creation of history's largest empire ... he writes with splendid panache ... and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit' Andrew Roberts 'Dazzling ... wonderfully readable' New York Review of Books 'Empire is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence' Sunday Times

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900
Author: Andrew Roberts
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 687
Release: 2010-12-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0297865242

Prize-winning British historian tells the story of the English-speaking peoples in the 20th century Winston Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples ended in 1900. Andrew Roberts, Wolfson History prizewinner has been inspired by Churchill's example to write the story of the 20th century. Churchill wrote: 'Every nation or group of nations has its own tale to tell. Knowledge of the trials and struggles is necessary to all who would comprehend the problems, perils, challenges, and opportunities which confront us today 'It is in the hope that contemplation of the trials and tribulations of our forefathers may not only fortify the English-speaking peoples of today, but also play some small part in uniting the whole world, that I present this account.' As the greatest of all the trials and tribulations of the English-speaking peoples took place in the twentieth century, Roberts' book covers the four world-historical struggles in which the English-speaking peoples have been engaged - the wars against German Nationalism, Axis Fascism, Soviet Communism and now the War against Terror. But just as Churchill did in his four volumes, Roberts also deals with the cultural, social and political history of the English global diaspora.