From Suez to Kosovo: British Political Parties on the Use of Force

Abstract

This article examines the approach of the main British political parties towards the use of force in the post-war decades. It starts by elucidating how the parties approached the issue in the early part of the twentieth century and goes on to consider how the parties responded to the issue in four conflicts, namely Suez, the Falklands, the Gulf and Kosovo. In the case of Kosovo, the article finds persuasive evidence that both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reversed their established approach of requiring UN Security Council authorisation for the use of force