Anglo-American Special Relationship - Essay Example

PROPOSAL Does the Anglo-American Special Relationship have a Future MAIN ARGUMENT: *Yes the Anglo-American special relationship does have a future Introduction There are widespread assumption on both sides of the Atlantic that the special relationship between the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) has been declining in significance as both have gone through times of war, conflict, peace and close cooperation (Wikipedia, 2006), and will most likely to go on (Rachamn, 2001) But it cannot be derailed that both countries share cultural and intellectual life not present among other bilateral relations between nations, making a strong argument that the UK is likely to remain America's paramount ally for the foreseeable future. Wright (2002) emphasised that cultural and historical similarities, diplomatic consultation, defence, and nuclear cooperation made the "special relationship" first used popularly by the late Winston Churchill in his March 1946 Iron Curtain speech. Political observers as well as academicians may not agree in consideration of trade relations and blocs, as well as intelligence, military and nuclear affairs (Rachman, 2001), but still, there are considerable points that the US would choose to retain that relations whether UK leaders and populace may agree or not. But at the end of the spectrum, as some commentators view it, the special relationship seem "an unequal partnership, dogged with infidelity, and unbalanced in its power," (Wright, 2002). Bodi (2005) expressed the sentiment in view of the July 7 London bombings as "Not that this outrage is likely to shock us into realising we have become involuntary martyrs for Blair in the service of his master's imperial cause. In the politics of fear, attacks like Thursday's rarely lead to awareness beyond the most immediate danger. Those further down the chain of causation usually escape censure in the resulting wave of revulsion." The UK generally uses "transatlantic relations", by pro-European integration to downplay its just 20 miles distance with France and emphasise the wider distance between UK and the US (Rachman, 2001). Part One - The question of Europe Since Britain joined the then European Community in 1973, it has had an uneasy ride with its European partners. The relations have often been turbulent The UK's membership in the European Union (EU) that have a self-proclaimed goal of "ever closer union" was suggested by Rachman (2001) is a question that mattered more in London than in Washington. The US also have special relations among other countries such as Israel, Canada, Mexico (Wright, 2002), Japan and, also the EU. Economically, there was a difficulty in totally integrating in to the European Union despite the low economic growth in Britain due to the high value of the pound making Britons believe that economy is doing well even while outside the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The UK shares 15.3 percent of export to the US while it has considerable larger export to the EU members Germany, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy (CIA, 2006) at around 50 percent (Rachman, 2001). UK also lists Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, China, and Italy along with US (9.3 percent) as its leading import partners. While the US lists Canada, Mexico, Japan, China, along with UK (4.4 percent) as its export partners, it has only Canada, China, Mexico, Japan and Germany as its leading import partners (CIA, 2006). The British have had their national sovereignty slowly eroded by EU laws and regulations. While mainland Europe such as Germany rates 43.6 to 56.6 percent and France's rate is 41.6 percent, the UK taxes only about 20 percent considered the lowest in the European Community (Expatica, 2005) making Britons Euro-sceptic as former president of Germany's Central Bank announced "A European currency will lead to member nations transferring their sovereignty over financial and wage policy, as well as in monetary affairs. It is an illusion to think that states can hold on to autonomy over taxation policy," (qtd., Expatica, 2005). UK stood on its ground from Brussels' pressure to conform to European Union's tax policies as it forced its citizens to pay individual tax to EU headquarters but Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland back UK's anti-Euro tax stance while Luxemburg and Germany proposed the Euro tax would create greater accountability and openness (Expatica, 2005). Tony Blair: has made efforts to play a leading role in Europe but the British public has grown increasingly disillusioned with EU membership in recent years Former British Foreign Secretary Lord Owen, as early as 1983 have commented, "It struck me as wrong in our new relationship with Europe that we should be tapping into the European Community and passing some of that stuff on to the United States. I wanted to have an arrangement whereby anything that dealt with negotiations within the European Community, which afterall can influence the United States in trade negotiations, should not be passed on. I wanted to have a ring fence around it," (Economist, 2000). Part Two- Britain, Europe and the U.S The UK's future direction in Europe will directly impact the United States. In March 2000, during a debate on electronic surveillance and commercial espionage that took place in Strasbourg, member of European Parliament Jean Claude Martinez blurted, "This is an Anglo-Saxon Protestant conspiracy. So much for Britain's commitment to European solidarity: its real union is with America," (Rachman, 2001). There was a common suspicion in Europe that Great Britain's real loyalties will always be with English speaking nations such as the United States. Part Three- UK: Future relations with the U.S Pro-Europeans in Britain may already be getting restless for what Britain is actually gaining from its support of the US (Wright, 2002) as issues on missile defence, Iraq, Kyoto, trade and the Middle East put a greater divide between the two. Economically: US/UK extremely close Pro-EU, nevertheless, argue that while it may be underlined that the Thatcher-Reagan era resurrected a period of UK-US shared attitudes to the Cold War and the economic reforms (Rachman, 2001), recent times showed the Great Britain was the junior partner as actions of Japan and Germany weigh heavier to the US more than those of Great Britain. Yet pro-US may rebut emphasising UK as the largest single destination for US foreign direct investment that even surpassed China, which may be due to the parallelism of the free-market economies. The US and the UK easily remain the largest foreign direct investors in each others economies Financially: Great Britain and America share extraordinary financial ties which make the UK a primary U.S national security interest Militarily: The relationship was definitely strained during the Suez canal crisis as repeated in the Vietnam war when Britain resisted US pressure to send troops, and US was also angered by the UK stance on the Far East as US invaded Grenada in October 1983 and used British bases to bomb Libya in 1986 (Wright, 2002) Nevertheless, despite Britain's fading status as imperial power, it continue exerting influence in international affairs with secured military protection while US keeps a loyal ally in Europe as may be both viewed in the War Against Terror declared by Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Britain, too, shared the bitter alliance as 56 died in a series of London Bombings in July 7, 2005 (Bodi, 2005). Along with France and the US, the UK is one of only three NATO powers capable of sustaining a global military presence. Former director of the Central Intelligence Agency James Woolsey said, "Although no one is a complete friend in the intelligence world, with Britain and America, it is as close as it gets," (qtd., Economist, 2000). UN: The UK is an ally and supporter of the United States, sometimes against all the other members of the Security Council- (Iraq 2003) When Bush declared the War Against Terror, it was widely acknowledged that Blair was his closest leader ally as troops from both countries invaded Iraq. Politics: UK's proven political slant towards America, the two nations share a deep-rooted history and military alliance- demonstrated in World Wars One and Two, the Cold War, Afghanistan, Iraq and the fight against terrorism Shared common geopolitical view- that explains why the UK is currently so vital to U.S coalition-building Part Four- U.S and EU relations Washington's policy-making elites have tried to close the transatlantic gap The U.S supports closer European integration The U.S wants to see a unified EU Gompert (2003) wrote that "the popular European image of the United States is every bit as harsh: America is widely seen as power-hungry and arrogant - traits that hardly evoke leadership. It magnifies military threats so that it can brandish its military power." Other impressions include vote-selling, gun-toting, gas-guzzling, GMO-pedling as Gompert (2003) added "Iraq or no Iraq, the bonds between Europeans and Americans are no longer special and unbreakable. Although acknowledged that the "United States has consistently favoured integration [.] because it promised to give Washington that proverbial single phone number to call," (Gompert, 2003). However: The Iraq War 2003 in fact has widened the transatlantic gap Growing Anti-Americanism across Europe has hindered the relationship Crowing Anti-Europeanism from within the U.S Part Five- The Future UK playing a crucial role: bridging the transatlantic divide between the United States and the European Union Hague (1990) argued that the special relationship "has primarily been a device by which Britain sought to bolster its weakened and declining international position after 1945." Rachman (2001) nevertheless went on that "despite deep reservations within the EU about Bush's missile defence, Blair will go along within the US plan" as he aligned the reasons why the "special relationship" continues: intelligence and nuclear weapons leading to close military and diplomatic cooperation. There had been differences in handling Bosnia, about the lifting of arms embargo, they again sided one another in the Kosovo campaign. One Clinton official noted, "Sometimes, when it doesn't suit us to push an initiative directly, the British will put it forward instead," (qtd., Rachman, 2001). Rachman (2001) further evaluated that the cultural tie was the most important of all as leaders of both countries were surrounded by advisers and policy-makers as exchange diplomats and that it was clearly pointed out that Blair's important economic reforms were patterned directly from US earned income tax credit, specifically the working families tax credit and welfare benefit. This interchange directly affected foreign policy as key UK economic advisers look instinctively at the US for domestic reforms (Rachman, 2001). Tony Blair: "Call it a bridge, a two lane motorway, a pivot or call it a damn high wire, which is how it often feels, our job is to keep our sights firmly on both sides of the Atlantic, use the good old characteristics of common sense and make the argument"1 The fact remains the U.S simply cannot act effectively in the world without at least some European allies Conclusion With the foregoing discussion, it can be now acknowledged that despite the unequal tilt of the so-called "special relationship" between the US and the UK owing to the need for dependence by UK's declining international power, shared sentiments for democracy, healthy international economic relations and cultural bond count much in this bonding. Likewise, there is a mutual give and take within the relationship as political observers note that the US needs the UK to either balance intelligence and security within the European bloc, although UK has an internal conflict with the policies of the European Union. With the cultural bond as the strongest strand of the tie, citing Hollywood to the US-backed international campaign for use of English language (Rachman, 2001), this may hold true as governmental policies, militarism and nuclear weapons may all be undermined by the peaceful majority of the populations on both sides of the Atlantic who would rather go on living in harmony. BIBLIOGRAPHY Reference: Bodi, Faisal. "Blair put us in the firing line." The Guardian. July 9, 2005. Drumbell. J. A Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations in the Cold War and After (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000) Economist. April 29, 2000. Expatica. "Country focus: United Kingdom." Expatica Communications. 2005. Gardinger, Nile. "The Bush/Blair Pre-G-8 Meeting: Tensions in the Anglo-U.S. Alliance" The Heritage Foundation. June 6, 2005. Gompert, David. Lindstrom, Gustav (ed). "What does America Want of Europe"Shift or Rift: Assessing US-EU relations after Iraq. European Union Institute for Security Studies. 2003. Hague, Rod. "European defence cooperation: America, Britain and NATO. Manchester University Press. 1990. Morgan. P. Alarming Drum: Britain's European Dilemma (Imprint Academic: 2005) Louis. R. & Bull. H. The Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relationship since (Clarendon Press: 1986) Wikipedia. "US-UK Special Relations." 2006. Wither, James. "British bulldog or Bush's poodle Anglo-American relations and the Iraq war." Parameters, Winnter. 2003. Wright, Ben. Analysis: Anglo-American 'special relationship. BBC News. April 5, 2002. From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1913522.stm Journal Articles: www.Jstor.org- Athens Login: uow0307156 Password: w19111983 www.finarticles.com *Please feel free to use my login details to retrieve journal articles Websites: www.twq.com- [PDF] G. Rachman Is the Anglo-American Relationship Still Special The Washington Quarterly (2001) http://www.policyreview.org- The State of the Special Relationship http://www.heritage.org/Research/Europe/wm754.cfm - The Bush/Blair Pre-G-8 Meeting: Tensions in the Anglo-U.S. Alliance www.adef-britishstudies.de www.policymatters,net http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1360913,00.html http://www.ukun.org/articles_show.aspSarticleType=17&Article_ID=1104 www.bbc.co.uk http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/02/20010226.html www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/ www.heritage.org/Press/Events/ev020206a.cfm Read More