Book Review: British Foreign Policy since the Second World War
| Author | John C. Campbell |
| Published date | 01 March 1963 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206301800131 |
| Date | 01 March 1963 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
122
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Foreign
Office
in
the
confused
negotiation
that
led
to
the
establishment
of
a
Regency
in
Greece
in
1944
is
an
example,
for
the
account
here
rendered
of
these
events
adds
a
few
previously
missing
pieces
to
the
jig-saw
puzzle of
what
"really
happened".
The
value
of
the
book
lies
therefore
in
its
usefulness
as
a
source
for
future
historians,
pending
such
time
as
the
Foreign
office
records
from
World
War
II
will
be
thrown
open
to
general
scholarly
perusal.
University
of
Chicago
WILiAM
IL
McNEILL
BRrrISH
FOREIGN POLICY
SINCE
THU
SECOND
WORLD
WAR.
By
C.
M.
Wood-
house.
1961.
(London:
Hutchinson. Toronto:
Nelson
Foster
&
Scott.
255pp.
$6.75.)
C.
M.
Woodhouse
disarms
his critics in
advance
by
stating that
his
book
is
superficial because
he
bases
it
only
on
the
published
sources
and
is
content
to describe
the
acts
of
British
foreign
policy
without
probing
the
motives
of
the
actors.
But
no
one
would
expect
a
journey-
man's
effort
from
this
particular
author,
an
M.P.
whose
career
in
foreign
affairs
already
encompasses
special
military
operations,
diplo-
macy,
writing,
and
a
period as
Director
of
the
Royal
Institute
of
International
Affairs.
He
has
succeeded
better than
he
will
admit.
Still,
a
reviewer
may
be
permitted
a
regret
that
he
chose
to
include
within
the
confines
of
a
short
book
so
much
familiar
fact,
and not
to
write
something
more
in
the nature
of
an interpretive
essay,
which he
can
do
brilliantly.
This
is
not,
however,
a mere
distillation
of
fifteen
Chatham
House
annual
surveys.
It
begins
with
a
brief
sketch
of
world
developments,
then
goes
into
the
various
aspects
of
the
British reaction
to them:
defence
policy,
the national
economy,
alliances,
relations
with
the
United
States,
the
devolution
of
empire
and
the
new
Commonwealth,
the
small
states
and
new
nations,
and
the
United
Nations.
The
organi-
zation
is
logical,
the writing
clear.
The
general
theme
is
the
adjustment
which
Britain
has
had
to make
in
a
world where
it
is
no
longer
one
of
the
big
powers.
The
author
traces this
process
through Britain's
role
as
a
junior
partner
of
the
United
States
in
the
cold
war,
the
contraction of
its
commitments
in
Asia
and
Africa,
the
exposure
of
weakness
at
Suez,
the
pull
of
association
with continental
Europe,
and
the
search
for
new
ways
of
protecting
permanent
interests.
One
of
the
most
enlightening
chapters
deals
with
party
politics
and
foreign
policy.
The
continuity
of
British
policy
through
the
years,
whichever
party
has
held
office,
has
been
remarkable,
but
the
differences between
and
within
parties
have
had
their
effect,
as Mr.
Woodhouse
so
clearly
shows.
"The
study
of
party
politics,"
he
concludes,
"goes
to
support
the
conclusion
that
no
British
Government
since
the
war
has
been
the
undivided
master
of
its
own
foreign
policy."
The
judgements
and
conclusions
are
eminently
fair,
balanced,
and
modest.
Some
statements
of
fact
or
opinion
may
be
open
to
objec-
tions,
If
not
as
mistatement,
then
as
overstatement:
for
example,
the
description
of
the
cold
war
in
its
very
first
years
(1944-1946)
as
a
To continue reading
Request your trial