英國布萊爾政府對美國外交政策(1997-2007)

Abstract

After Cold War, the international system turned into “unipolar”. To the United States, Britain’s status declined due to the collapse of Soviet Union. As a result, Britain had to find some solutions in order to go back to her glorious time. In 1997, Tony Blair came to power, proposing “the third way” as his guideline on governing. As to the foreign affairs, Britain was well-cooperative with the United States. Both Britain and the U.S. practiced “interventionism” through military operations. In addition, Britain promoted democracy and liberal economics to spread happiness for all the human beings. In 2001, “911 attack” happened. Later, Britain cooperating with the U.S. was strongly opposed to terrorism. Britain and the U.S. thus launched two important wars, Afghanistan war and Iraqi war, in 2001 and 2003. Successfully, Britain strengthened the relationship with the United States, and at the same time enhanced her power and security on both abroad and home. However, the continuous military actions made Britain isolated from European Union. The Blair’s administration was criticized seriously. The present study focusing on the Anglo-US relationship before and after “911 attack” analyzed the transfer of Britain’s foreign policy towards the U.S. The analyses based on Britain’s diplomatic tradition, the process of making her foreign policy, the spirits and the significance as well as some important disputes of her foreign policy. In the present study, neo-realism and Blair’s internationalism were used as the main methods. Firstly, the history background and the environments after World War II and Cold War were reviewed. Then, the goals, the intensions, and the contents of Blair’s foreign policy towards the U.S. were discussed. Finally, the effects of Blair’s foreign policy were generalized. The present study may provide readers some viewpoints and shed some lights on Britain’s future diplomatic relations with the U.S. as well as with other countries.