Andrew Elsby

Britain and the World Andrew Elsby

Britain and the World: Case Studies in British Foreign Policy Decision-Making 1939-1968 traces a period of relative British decline in economic, military, political and diplomatic power and the policies with which successive British governments reacted to it. The book assesses the different causal influences on the decision-making process, including the objective economic, political and military context and the attitudes, perceptions, personalities and relationships of those involved in British political and official establishment foreign-policy decision-making. Addressed are the negotiations for an Anglo-Soviet alliance in the spring and summer of 1939, the Soviet demand in late 1941 and early 1942 for recognition of their annexation of the Baltics, the post-war future of Germany, the Berlin crisis of 1948-49, the Suez crisis of 1956, and a comparison between British policy over the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, and British policy in the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1968.