British foreign policy

About this book

New Labour came to power in 1997 promising to modernize Britain and its role in the world. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown made ambitious pledges and launched bold policy initiatives. After thirteen years during which Britain became mired in divisive and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, New Labour's early promises€came to resemble€little more than the cynical political 'spin' which the government was so often accused of producing. Criticised as a poodle to the US and a deeply divisive presence in the European Union, where did it go so badly wrong for New Labour's conduct of foreign policy? This book provides a fresh and challenging perspective on British foreign policy during the New Labour years, 1997-2010. The collection is themed around the development of a brand new model of British foreign policy in three interlocking circles: Identity, Ethics and Power. The contributors are as one in arguing that the conceptual basis of British foreign policy action needs a more radical overhaul than New Labour either promised or provided. €.