000 01813cam a2200181 i 4500
999 _c24235
_d24235
001 57632
020 _a9781849043281
040 _aStDuBDS
082 0 4 _a327.41073
100 1 _aArnold, Guy.
_944397
245 1 0 _aAmerica and Britain :
_bwas there ever a special relationship? /
_cGuy Arnold.
300 _av, 292 p. ;
_c23 cm.
504 _aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 _aBritain's political and military elite has for decades nurtured the idea that enduring ties bind the interests of London and Washington, in good times and bad. Irrespective of the end of the Cold War, the 9/11 attacks and the economic rise of the East, these links are allegedly impregnable. But how accurate a picture is this? Are the British engaged in a monumental act of self-delusion? Guy Arnold investigates the 'American disease' at the heart of Whitehall, which, he argues, has tied British policies too closely to those of Washington. The "special relationship" became a Foreign Office priority and gave Britain the illusion of power it no longer enjoyed. As Churchill put it acidly, "the British and the Americans were stuck with each other - a junior partner and a senior partner respectively". For the Americans it provided a way of keeping Britain 'on side' but in return Washington accelerated Britain's imperial decline. The Americans always saw Britain in Europe as a Trojan Horse to safeguard their interests and as a military outpost for their global ambitions. They derided or ignored the "special relationship", even in their dealings with Thatcher and Blair, and latterly the Foreign Office has failed to convince President Obama of its unique importance.
526 0 _aMIST910
856 _uhttps://uowd.box.com/s/jerwjayfvbdml9hflh5ogbhly3afuzy9
_zLocation Map
942 _cREGULAR
_2ddc