The high wire act: a comparison of British transatlantic foreign policies in the Second World War and the war in Iraq, 2001-2003

摘要

Drawing upon ideas from critical geopolitics, this paper compares the role that the Britishgovernment plays within the contemporary transatlantic alliance with that played by Churchill'sgovernment during the Second World War. It argues that the Blair government's approachto foreign policy has parallels with Churchill's – that it should act as a bridge betweenthe US and European governments. From this basis the paper reflects upon geopoliticalchange since 1945, re-evaluating the reasons for foreign policy failures during the IraqWar. Belying the assumption that these were caused by Blair's failures at diplomacy, itargues that failure was the result of an outdated geopolitical strategy.