Political and Military Relations of the British Commonwealth and the United States
| Published date | 01 October 1946 |
| Author | G. de T. Glazebrook |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204600100406 |
| Date | 01 October 1946 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Political
and
Military
Relations
of
the
British
Commonwealth
and
the
United
States*
G.
deT.
Glazebrook
S
ince
the
British
Commonwealth is an
association
of
nations
rather
than
a
single
state,
political
relations
with
the
United
States are
coftducted
by
its
various
governments.
At
the
same
time
there
are
factors
in
these
relationships
that
are
not
to
be
found
in
respect
of
other
states:
the
peculiar
structure
of
the
British
Commonwealth
itself,
and
the
special
links
that
have
developed
between
some
of
its
units
and
the
United States.
The
England
against
which
the Thirteen
Colonies
rebelled
was
a
single,
an
understandable,
state.
Even
by
the
time
of
the
American Civil
War,
the North
or
South
could
still
think
in
terms
of
friction
or
friendship
with
an
entity
known
as
England
or
the British
Empire;
but
by
the end
of
the
nineteenth
century
Americans-only
less
than
other
foreigners-were
puzzled
by
a
process
of
decentralization
that
defied
definition
even
by
those
peoples
that
were bringing
it
about.
A
decentralized
empire
in
the
period
of
nearly
a
century
of
wars
or
quarrels
would
have
laid
itself
open
to
the
additional
weapon
of
divide
and rule; but
actually
the
transition
from empire
to
commonwealth
became
effective
only
in
a
later
period,
in
which
the
forces
of
common
interest
had
grown
stronger
than
those
of
major
divergence.
Then,
when
Americans
looked
to
the
strength
and
not
the
weakness
of
the
Commonwealth,
they
began
to
ask
themselves
whether
their
own
interests
would
not
be
served
best
by
the
existence
of
another
English-speaking
group
talking with
a
single
voice
to
the
world outside
it.
The
policies
of
the
various Commonwealth
countries towards
*Editor's
note:
Professor
Glazebrook's
article,
while
not
purporting
to
be a
mere summary
of
round
table
discussions
on
British
Common-
wealth-United
States
Political
and
Military
Relations
held
at
the
Annual
Conference
of
the
Canadian
Institute
of
International
Affairs
(Toronto,
May
25-26,
1946),
is
based
on
such
discussions,
which
the
writer
has
rounded
out
in
order
to
fill
unavoidable
gaps
and
to
present the
subject
matter
in
perspective.
337
To continue reading
Request your trial