This book addresses the Anglo-American special relationship from the perspective of post-Second World War British governments. Drawing upon original research, it investigates how these governments have perceived the special relationship and attempted to perform a foreign policy role within it. In so doing, the book explores how the British foreign policy making process has repeatedly challenged the dominant idea that Britain's ability to influence international affairs has been waning and that British governments have accepted a position of subservience to the hegemony of the US. The book also ... More

This book addresses the Anglo-American special relationship from the perspective of post-Second World War British governments. Drawing upon original research, it investigates how these governments have perceived the special relationship and attempted to perform a foreign policy role within it. In so doing, the book explores how the British foreign policy making process has repeatedly challenged the dominant idea that Britain's ability to influence international affairs has been waning and that British governments have accepted a position of subservience to the hegemony of the US. The book also argues that, at key moments of post-War international crisis, successive British governments have attempted to re-play the same foreign policy role within the special relationship that Churchill's government defined in 1945. By setting contemporary British foreign policy into its historical context, it offers 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 contends that the foreign policy failure that Blair experienced during the Iraq war was both inevitable the legacy of successive British governments’ inertia towards Britain's role in the special relationship. It concludes that these failings are likely to be re-played and demonstrates how and why the role of the special relationship in British foreign policy must be urgently rethought. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective, this book will appeal to students, academics and a wider readership with an interest in politics, geopolitics, geography, international relations, British foreign policy and post-Second World War British history.