How is foreign policy made? Who makes it? Does public opinion count at all? Originally published in 1968, this study represented the first attempt by a contemporary political scientist to pull together, in brief compass, all the relevant threads - including the constitutional, the political, the institutional and the sociological.

How is foreign policy made? Who makes it? To what conscious and unconscious influences are policy-makers subject? What is distinctive about the immensely complex process as it unfolds in Britain? And what, therefore, is distinctive and characteristic about Britain’s foreign policy today? Who in Britain, has the decisive word? Why is the Foreign Office the king-pin of the system? Why does Parliament count for so little? Does public opinion count at all? Originally published in 1968, these are some of the questions which this book considers in the course of a tightly argued but very readable analysis. Some had been considered on their own elsewhere, but this study represented the first attempt by a contemporary political scientist to pull together, in brief compass, all the relevant threads – including the constitutional, the political, the institutional and the sociological. It is done, moreover, on the basis of a sharp assessment of the type of foreign policy problem that most notably confronted Britain at the time. The author has been successively journalist, official of the Israel Government, and university lecturer in politics. Throughout, his special interests and activities have been in the sphere of international affairs and it was while teaching International Relations at the University of Sussex that he wrote this book. He combines the experience of one who has seen the policy being made from the inside with the theoretical insight of the political scientist; he assesses with a sympathetic but unemotional detachment the constraints on the formation of British foreign policy.

Britain has been a significant voice in global politics in the last two decades and its impact on world events far outweighs its material resources. But how does a small island on the edge of Europe continue to exercise this level of power on an international scale? What kind of actor is Britain internationally? And what future challenges will confront British foreign policymakers in a multi-polar world of emerging powers? In this comprehensive introduction to British foreign policy today Jamie Gaskarth addresses these and other key questions. Against a rich historical backdrop, he examines the main actors and processes involved in British foreign policy-making as well as the role played by identity in shaping such choices. Later chapters focus on the relationship between economics and foreign policy, what it means to be ethical in this policy sphere, and the justification for and benefits of the UK’s continued use of force to achieve its foreign policy goals. Combining interview research, theoretical insight and analysis of contemporary and historical trends, this book charts how British foreign policy has come to be understood and practised in the 21st Century. It will be an invaluable guide for students of British politics, foreign policy, international relations and related courses.

Whose interests does British foreign policy serve? Is the national interest a useful explanatory tool for foreign policy analysts? This interdisciplinary collection responds to these questions exploring ideas of Britain's national interest and their impact on strategy, challenging current thinking and practice in the making of foreign policy.

A major review of New Labour's foreign policy from leading experts. This book re-imagines policy thinking, away from Churchill's idea of Britain as at the intersection of 'three circles' (the English speaking world, Europe, and the Commonwealth) and towards a new conceptual model that takes into account identity, ethics and power.