Foreign Policy: Changing Priorities

Abstract

British foreign policy has undergone substantial change within the past five years. Contemporary British foreign policy is the product of a variety of factors, most notably the greater emphasis on the domestic content of foreign policy itself, public service reform, and an increasingly diverse and complex international agenda. In these respects contemporary foreign policy bears little relationship to the earlier post-war focus on international peace and security through international organisation and Commonwealth cooperation, enshrined in such notions as the doctrine of the ‘three interlocking circles’ (Britain and the wider world, Commonwealth and Europe).1 The aim of this chapter is to review some of the main outlines of British foreign policy which emerged during 2005. An underlying theme of the chapter is the increased difficulty larger powers have in promoting and securing support for broader strategic ideas involving foreign policy initiatives, over and above particular short-term issues or day-to-day problems.KeywordsInternational Atomic Energy AgencyForeign PolicyWorld Trade OrganisationSecurity CouncilIndian Ocean TsunamiThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.