British Foreign Policy and the National Interest Identity, Strategy and Security

For over a decade, British foreign policy has been criticised for lacking strategic thinking. Academics describe a 'strategy gap' and note that old ideas about Britain's role in the world continue to be recycled even today. This collection aims to address this issue by re-examining the ideas of Britain's national interest and their impact on strategy, to challenge current thinking and practice in the making of foreign policy.

Applying interdisciplinary approaches to British foreign policy, this volume analyses a range of issues asking: Whose interests does British foreign policy serve? Is the national interest a useful explanatory tool for foreign policy analysts? How can policymakers reconnect with this idea to devise better strategies to cope with the complex policy environment of the twenty-first century? Drawing on links between academics, policymakers and other stakeholders, it provides a practical discussion of theories on global change, globalization, ethics, and security to enliven debate about how to forge a foreign policy that advances the interests of the UK whilst also holding policy-makers and officials to account for their actions.

Tim Edmunds is Professor of International Security and Director of the Global Insecurities Centre at the University of Bristol, UK. His research addresses issues of civil-military relations and security sector reform, with an empirical focus on post-communist Europe, the former Yugoslavia (particularly Serbia) and the UK.

Jamie Gaskarth is Associate Professor in International Relations at Plymouth University, UK. He is the author of British Foreign Policy (2013) and British Foreign Policy: The New Labour Years (Palgrave, 2011).

Robin Porter, a China specialist and former diplomat, is Visiting Professor in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. His current research focuses on ideas of national interest in British foreign policy.

1. Introduction; Jamie Gaskarth, Robin Porter, and Tim Edmunds
PART I: BRITAIN IN THE WORLD
2. The Uncertain Merger of Values and Interests in UK Foreign Policy; Jonathan Gilmore
3. The National Interest and Britain's Role in the World; Jamie Gaskarth
4. National Interest and the Falklands War; Helen Parr
PART II: WHOSE NATIONAL INTEREST?
5. A Citizen's View of 'national interest'; Nick Ritchie
6. Critical Perspectives on the Concept of the 'National Interest': American Imperialism, British Foreign Policy and the Middle East; David Wearing
7. Why America?; Robin Porter
PART III: STRATEGY AND PLANNING
8. Organising for British National Strategy; Alexander Evans
9. UK Nuclear Interests: Security, Resilience and Trident; Benoit Pelopidas and Jutta Weldes
10. Complexity, Strategy and the National Interest; Tim Edmunds
11. National Interest and Strategy: an Ecologically-grounded Analysis; Max Taylor
12. Britain's Strategic Culture in Context: A Typology of National Security Strategies; Tim Oliver and Austin Knuppe
13. Conclusion; Tim Edmunds, Jamie Gaskarth and Robin Porter