Is Britain More Closely Linked to the US Rather than Europe - Report Example

of the of the of the Is Britain More Closely Linked to the US Rather than Europe? The United Kingdom had colonized most of the nations, however after World War II; it was compelled to relinquish most of its colonies. Its foreign policy saw several changes and till 1973 it distanced itself from the rest of the European countries, several of which combined their power to form the European Union or the EU. UK’s foreign policy proved to be dilemmatic as its principal perspective was restricted to choosing between the United States and Europe, with a minimal individual role in international politics1. Subsequent to World War II, the British Empire became a fifty – one nation strong Commonwealth of Nations in 1994. Despite its international importance, the UK understood that it should maintain trade relations with Europe in order to obtain economic growth. Debates regarding the UK’s membership in the EU are never ending and some declare that the UK’s prosperity is linked with the EU, whilst others argue that there is a loss of identity to the UK2. The United Kingdom faced serious setbacks in the twentieth century and most of its military and economic prowess was exhausted in the two World Wars. Ireland became an independent nation after withdrawing from the union3. The USA developed into a superpower after World War II, while Britain waned and acquired the status of a medium sized nuclear power. It managed to obtain a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. Moreover, in the EU also, the UK is not given much importance as it joined it much later and by that time the older members had made significant contributions to the development and prosperity of the EU. UK’s contribution to the expansion of the EU was negligible. Furthermore, the French President, Charles de Gaulle, opposed the inclusion of the UK in the EU, as it would be in with its relationship with the Commonwealth and the US. Accordingly, Charles de Gaulle used the French veto to prevent the UK from becoming a member of the European Economic Community or the EEC. Later on when the UK finally managed to join the EU, it had to accept the rules and regulations framed by others in the EU4. The UK has always been at loggerheads with the rest of Europe and not surprisingly, its relationship with the EU is strife ridden. Margaret Thatcher advocated a reduction in the UK’s contributions to the EEC and her obduracy in this regard resulted in the exclusion of the UK from the Community’s social charter, moreover, UK was the only major European country that was not a signatory to the Schengen accord, which integrates the EU countries with border – free agreements. Further, the UK is the only major country in European Union that did not adopt the single European currency or the Euro5. A section of the public in the UK wants it to participate more effectively in the EU in order to integrate countries and form a strong union of nations. Others opine that the EU should develop into federalist mechanism like the US to control taxes, which would significantly increase the prosperity of all the Member States of the EU, due to the existence of a common trade and foreign policy6. Subsequent to the terrorist attacks on 11, September, 2001 in the US, Tony Blair sent troops to Afghanistan to participate in the US – led retaliatory efforts against Osama bin Laden. Blair supported the Bush administration’s effort to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which resulted in serious violations of human rights. Moreover, weapons of mass destructions, biological weapons and chemical weapons were not found in Iraq. These facts disclosed that Blair had like Bush misled the public and the government by exaggerating about the threat posed by Iraq7. In order to counter terrorist attacks on themselves, the US and the UK combined forces and made concerted combat efforts and exchanged intelligence. They conducted joint combat operations against terrorists and an agreement was signed in Washington, which involved the security services and anti – terrorism specialists of both the countries. In addition, they performed joint training exercises that were designed to counter the threat of terrorist attacks on major cities in the US as well as the UK8. Tony Blair’s blatant support of the US depredations on Iraq earned the opprobrium of not only the Labour Party and the public of the UK but also that of the EU. It also served to establish the contention that the UK favored the US more than Europe. The present Prime Minister is expected to distance from the Bush Administration’s Iraq policy, while strengthening relations that related to the interests of its European partners, a classic example of tightrope walking9. The US administration compelled the UK to defer the withdrawal of its troops from Bara, Iraq. Accordingly, the UK delayed its troop withdrawal for five months. Had the UK withdrawn its troops earlier as had been planned, it would have avoided the large scale death of its soldiers in the attacks conducted by the Iraqi soldiers. In one incident, UK troops who had been based at the Basra Palace were subjected to severe mortar fire, which killed eleven British soldiers and severely wounded sixty– two soldiers10. According to the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, the UK is not only a committed member in the EU but at the same time it considers the US to be its most valuable partner. The UK’s pragmatic concept of political reality makes the US its vital partner in all aspects, while the EU has to restructure itself and emerge as an Environmental Union. According to Miliband, the US is the world’s only superpower having the largest economy. The US also promotes peace amongst the Middle East countries and is very active in protecting the environment. He also added that the US had the ability to do benefit any country in the world to the maximum extent possible. He was of the opinion that EU treaty was founded on the issue of disturbance in Western Europe, which was no longer relevant and hence the EU had to reshape its goals and protect the environment11. Most of the people as well as political observers view the relationship of Tony Blair with the American President George W. Bush as close and based on several factors. Blair’s blatant support to the US in the Iraqi war proved to be highly disadvantageous to the UK as well as the Prime Minister himself, which resulted in the early departure of Tony Blair from the office of Prime Minister. The Suez crisis highlighted the fact that the UK no longer constituted a global power. The might of the UK was a myth in the absence of US support. Subsequently, the UK’s efforts were directed towards combining the efforts of the US and Europe to counter the threat posed by the USSR. With the disbanding of the Empire, UK exhibited greater and greater dependence on US support and it asserted to itself and to others that it continued to remain a global force due to its influence over the US, which emanated from its exceptional rapport with the US. This special relationship became the cornerstone of the UK’s global policy and world view, which was however not reciprocated by the US12. It is the general opinion of the majority that the US and UK are close associates. Moreover, in NATO and Europe, the US military presence is preserved by the UK. The objective of the US in continuing this relationship with the UK is to have entrée to Europe, whereas the aim of the UK is to enhance its negotiating capacity with the European Union13. Despite the fact that there exists, a certain amount of political maneuvering between the UK and the US, an affinity towards each other in respect of transactions at the level of business is firmly entrenched. Consequently, the US considers the UK to be a most favored trading partner, while the UK harbours similar sentiments regarding the US. Several surveys indicate that the UK prefers to enter into business transactions with the US to a much greater extent than it does with any other country14. It is very much evident from the foregoing that the UK is closer to the US than it is to Europe. The latter has a surfeit of UK’s former adversaries like France, Spain, Holland, Germany, etc. The Americans and the Britons have a shared ancestry and the Islamic terrorists generally consider their enemy to be the US and the UK. Of late the UK had its share of Islamic terrorist attacks. In this manner the US and the UK have emerged as the common target of the terrorists. Such is not the fate of the other European countries. However, the US, though it concedes that the UK is a staunch ally, does not exhibit the same level of dependence on the UK that the latter does on the US. Initially when the EU was established by the Treaty of Rome, the UK had hoped that it would be similar in its composition to that of the US, which is a federation of independent states. However, on joining the EU, the UK realized to its chagrin that as a Member State its laws were subservient to the EU law. This served to align the UK with the US on financial matters, with a corresponding distancing from the EU. In fact, at one stage, Margaret Thatcher was even lobbying for the discontinuation of the membership of the EU and the reality is that there is not much love lost between the UK and the EU, whereas the terms of the UK with the US are extremely cordial. Annotated Bibliography 1. Blair, Tony (Anthony Charles Lynton Blair) (1953 – ). In The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2004. 17 October 2007 This encyclopedia article describes the meteroic rise of Tony Blair on the firmament of the UK political sky. It also describes the manner in which he misguided the Britons in respect of the possession of Weapons of Mass Destrucition by Iraq, a contention that was never proved. 2. Britain Today: US delayed withdrawal, The Journal. 10 September 2007. 17 October 2007 http://global.factiva.com/ha/default.aspx This Journal article discusses the effects of Britain’s delayed withdrawal of troops from Basra, which resulted in a number of deaths and severe injuries. 3. Browns Britain: Striking an EU-US Balance. 15 May 2007. 17 October 2007 http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2514155,00.html This piece of work describes the manner in which the UK lost its paramountcy amongst the comity of nations, after World War II. It also describes the efforts at tightrope walking that Britain indulges in with respect to the EU and the US. 4. Oakland, John. British Civilization: An Introduction. Routledge. ISBN: 0415261503, 2002. P. 95. This book by Oakland, discusses the decline of the UK from the most powerful nation on earth to one of the important countries of the world. It also discusses the divergence between its foreign and domestic policies. 5. Seib, Philip M. Taken for Granted: The Future of US - British Relations. United States: Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN: 0275963551, 1998. P. 73. This book by Seib, describes the changes engendered by the termination of the Cold War. The beneficiary has been US – UK economic relations. Major imports and exports of the UK are from and to the US. 6. The European Union. In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas. 2005. 17 October 2007 http://www.credoreference.com/entry/6481980 This encyclopedia article discusses the divergent views held by Britons regarding the EU. A few want the UK to take the lead in transforming the EU into a powerful league of nations, whereas others want the EU to adopt the federal characteristics of the US. 7. Travis, Alan. Britain and US to join forces in fight against terrorist threat, The Guardian. 2 April 2003. 17 October 2007 http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,927762,00.html This Guardian editorial describes the joint moves by the UK and the US to fight terrorism and to install and implement the latest technological innovations to achieve this objective. 8. U.S. - UK Relations at the Start of the 21st Century. DIANE Publishing. ISBN: 1428916237, P. 176. This book discusses the realization of the UK that it was no longer a force to reckon with in world politics. It also depicts the near total dependence of the UK on the US to maintain some semblance of power. 9. United Kingdom. In CIA World Factbook. 2006. 17 October 2007 http://www.credoreference.com/entry/5909891 This CIA World Factbook entry details the dismantling of the Empire and the emergence of the UK as a modern state, a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a leader in Science and Technology. 10. UNITED KINGDOM. In Philips World Geo-Factbook. 2001. 17 October 2007 http://www.credoreference.com/entry/3524647 This entry in the Philip’s World Geo – Factbook discusses the various aspects of the United Kingdom like its history, economy, climate, flora and fauna, and political environment. 11. Walker, Sophie. "US still Britains most important partner-Miliband." Reuters. Reuters News English(c) 2007 Reuters Limited, 18 July 2007. This Reuters News article states that the EU has to face the reality of the extant threats in the same manner that the UK has done. Moreover, the EU had to address the threat posed by climate change. Read More