New and Distinctive Set of Values Essay Example for Free

naked and Distinctive Set of Values EssayTo what extent and for what reasons did novel take succeed in introducing a new and distinctive set of values to the conduct of Britains external trans fulfil between 1997 and 2010?IntroductionAs John Rentoul has observed in his life tale of Tony Blair, Prime Ministers always run their witness unknown policy (Rentoul, 2001 420). This was certainly true of Tony Blair and New weary. That itself is a reason why Britains external relations in the shape of New Labours foreign policy can only be properly understood by reference to the foreign policy philosophy espoused by Blair and his response to introduction events during his leadership all over trey terms in office. In New Labours terce term (2005-10) the interventionist policy that dominated the previous two terms qwas an important hangover even to Gordon Browns premiership, although, ultimately Browns extent as leader was dominated by the global finical crisis.On the eve of t he Labour partys 1997 option victory John major(ip)(ip)s Conservative government had little credibility with the Clinton administration in Washington or with European governments (Wallace, 2005 54). This was a position that the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair cute to address. At the Lord Mayors Banquet on 10 November 1997 Blair set out five guiding lights on Europe including being a leading partner in Europe. He postulated that the single currency would be good for the EU (Lord Mayors Banquet, 1997). For Blair, British foreign policy should aim to be squiffy in Europe and strong with the US and that Britain was the bridge between the US and Europe (Lord Mayors Banquet, 1997).At the same venue, on 22 November 1999, Blair implicitly invoked Winston Churchills three circles doctrine that conjured up Britains relationship with the Commonwealth, the special relationship with the United States and the European dimension. According to Churchill Britain was the pivot around whom these rel ationships were to exist. Blair, accepting that the British Commonwealth was a lost Empire argued that Britains role was that of a polar power, as a power that was at the crux of the hampers andinternational politics which shape the world and its future (Lord Mayors Banquet, 1997).The intention in this essay is to focus on certain fundamental aspects of New Labour foreign policy that impacted on British relationships with Europe and the World at large. The primary focus will be on the so-called Blair Effect simply because, as Prime Minister, he was pivotal to the New Labour philosophy.EuropeAs Anne Deighton has observed both the Labour and Conservative parties at various times have suffered internal dissension over the European Union (EU) (Deighton, 2007 307). The focus of the Labour 1997 general election defend on Europe was one where the Labour manifesto promised to give Britain the leadership in Europe which Britain and Europe need (Labour-party, 1997). It was important for th e Labour party to highlight its commitment to Europe, in logical argument to the tensions within the Conservative party. Europe apart, however, the 1997 election campaign did not highlight significant differences between the Labour and Conservative parties. There was an expectation that at that place would be considerable continuity in foreign personal business in the event of a change of government (Wickham-Jones, 2000 8).Subsequently, in the course of New Labours first term in office Blair do regular pronouncements about Britains role in Europe. There was action as well as rhetoric. Shortly after taking office Britain terminate its opt-out from the social chapter of the Maastricht Treaty and signed up to the increased EU powers enshrined in the Amsterdam Treaty. British presidency of the EU provided a ready platform for Britain to follow up on an enlargement agenda. The St Malo summit in December 1998 provided Blair with a platform to collaborate with President Jacques Chira c of France to promote an Anglo-French initiative on European defence (fco.gov, 1998).This European protective cover and Defence policy (ESDP) has been described as part of arguably the most pro-active upstream period of the Labour governments utilitarian supranationalism (Bulmer, 2008 602). Notwithstanding Blairs pivotal rolein the creation of the ESDP, it has been argued that, in comparison to Conservative policy on European Security and Defence, the Blair hail was less a seismic shift in British policy, and more of a change of strategy (Dryburgh, 2010 271). The essential change, in comparison to the Conservative party approach was one where Blair was lively to adopt a leadership role in contrast to the former John Major governments focus of diverting attention onward from EU initiatives, and in the case of defence, a focus on the strengthening of NATO (Dryburgh, 2010 267-268).The relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown was also relevant to the New Labour approach to Euro pe. On 27 October 1997 Gordon Brown announced the governments policy on the Euro. This consisted on a three pronged policy that supported (a) a successful single currency, (b) that was constitutionally acceptable save (c) had to satisfy five economic tests (hm-treasury, 2008). This approach was allied to a commitment to hold a referendum on membership of the Euro. The key determinant (Bulmer, 2008 601) of this policy was the economic tests that included whether association the Euro would be good for employment. In the event, during Labours second term, on 9 June 2003 Gordon Brown announced that only one test was met that relating to a beneficial impact on UK financial services a result that removed joining the Euro from the policy-making agenda and, in a real sense, reduced New Labours pronouncements on the Euro as posturing and meaningless rhetoric.The reality of New Labours European strategy was not to alienate the support base that ultimately mattered the British electorate . The UK was a Euro-sceptic member state of the EU and a UK governments EU policy could not put at risk a parliamentary majority. The decoupling of the single currency allied to the promise of a referendum in that first term became a bequest of New Labour that has now achieved a degree of permanence that has survived through and beyond the 2010 election.The Blair and New Labour momentum on Europe stalled after the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. The focus on the war on terror and the transatlantic alliance that was nurtured by the 9/11 attacks became an all encompassing distraction with the result that Europe has been a central failure of his (Blairs) premiership (Riddell, 2005 383).Ethical foreign policyOn 12 May 1997 the then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared that foreign policy must have an good dimension and must support the demands of other people for the democratic rights on which we insist for ourselves (Rentoul, 2001 421). Cook denied ever using the phrase ethical for eign policy or that there would be an ethical foreign policy (Wickam-Jones, 2000 29). What is undeniable is that New Labour, through Cook, viewed humankind rights as a central plank of foreign policy because human rights were rights we claim for ourselves and which we therefore have a duty to defend for those who do not get to enjoy them (Wickham-Jones, 2000 11).This ethical dimension served to identify clear grimy water between New Labours foreign policy and previous administrations, including previous Labour governments (Little, 2000 4). Furthermore, although the concept of an ethical dimension was articulated by Cook, it chimed with Blairs third way in the sense that globalisation demanded an approach to the modern world that was qualitatively different from the past (Williams, 2010 54).The ethical dimension, however, was converted by media sources into an ethical foreign policy and served to create the sense that New Labour were introducing ethics to a sphere of government tha t was previously devoid of ethical commitments (Williams, 201057). such a lofty ambition was impossible to achieve in the real political world. This philosophy created a platform on which criticism could be levelled to contrast the reality with the aspiration, for example, in connection with the arms trade where New Labour continued a policy that was a highly permissive approach to exports (Cooper, 2001 73). The ethical dimension strategy became a millstone (Williams, 2010 61) around the Foreign Secretarys neck. It is worthy of note that the New Labour manifesto for the 2001 general election with its foreign policy focus on Britain strong in the world (REF) was designed to herald a change in focus.Kosovo and beyond.Blairs Chicago lecturing (number-10.gov, 1999) on 22 April 1999 was an important landmark in New Labours external relationships. It represented a key moment in the history of liberal interventionist discourse (Daddow, 2009 549). Active involvement in other peoples confl icts was justified if five considerations were satisfied, including exhausting all diplomatic options and being indisputable of the case for intervention. This interventionist approach relied on the notion that there was a moral dimension to international action that did not depend on the norms of international law. The desktop to the speech was what Blair described as a just war in Kosovo that was based not on any territorial ambitions but on values.Blairs vision of success whereby an international force would enter Kosvo and allow refugees to return to their homes was ultimately realised. His strident charge up to provoke NATO and the US President Clinton into action was seen as a triumph that earned him great respect with so many of the world leaders (Rentoul, 2001).Following the September 11 attacks Blair reinforced his interventionist stance at the Labour Party Conference (2001) by declaring that, along with the United States, Britain had a duty to protect the rights of citi zens of other states, including those of the Afghan people. On this approach, the carpet-bombing of Afghanistan could be claimed to be an action undertaken on behalf of Afghan citizens (Chandler, 2003 307). What this policy omits is any real engagement with the Afghan people themselves and, at its crudest, becomes a recipe for innocent collateral loss of life.Iraq became the yardstick against which New Labours foreign policy particularly during its second term and the Blair legacy has come to be judged. Iraq was inextricably tied in with the so-called special relationship between Britain and the US and the humanitarian interventionist policy. The special relationship was not new and even today the special relationship has a political and ideological superstructure and an embedded military and intelligence structure (Wallace, 2009 263). Yet under Blair there was unconditional support for the Bush administrations desire to storm Iraq. Although the so-called Poodle Theory might be si mplistic andat best, overstated (Azubuike, 2005 137)Blair was prepared to join Bush in pursuing a dim and illegal campaign (Azubuike, 2005 137). Robin Cook perhaps best summarised the flaw in Blairs approach in explaining that by becoming a trustworthy partner of the most reactionary US Administration in modern time such an unlikely alliance would cause disruption in his own party (Cook, 2003 2). The New Labour interventionist approach to conflict justified by humanitarian concerns that had proved successful in the past left a legacy that turned to ashes the Blair/New Labour vision of Britain that visualised spreading good around the world (Toynbee and Walker, 2005 p194).Gordon Brown as Prime Minister had to maintain the government note that Blairs foreign policy initiatives were justified because, as a central figure in New Labour he could not detach himself from the major foreign policy goals pursued by New Labour and Blair. Iraq and Afghanistan required to be managed.Conclusi onThe blueprint for New Labour external relations with a focus on leadership in Europe and an ethical dimension to world events in New Labours first term promised much, but by the third term was transformed into one where Europe became an intractable problem clouded by immigration and euro-scepticism. Furthermore, in Europe the New Labour policy of stringent economic tests became an agenda for non-entry to the euro.The New Labour policy of interventionism overlooked the fundamental truth that when it really mattered in Iraq and Afghanistan winning the war in a military sense became irrelevant if peace could not be secured thereafter. A humanitarian agenda without a secure peace becomes an agenda that lacks real morality. New Labour began with a positive external relations agenda that promised much but ultimately failed to deliver.BibliographyAzubuike, J. 2005. 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