Most Unusual Measures: British Approaches to Covert Activity, 1945-68

该研究分析了英国在1945年至1968年期间的秘密行动。秘密行动是一个国家以一种可以否认的方式干预另一个国家的事务，包括通过宣传、准军事和颠覆性政治活动。与间谍活动不同，它是活跃的，并试图塑造事件本身。该项目以从战争到和平的过渡开始，以1968年英国决定从苏伊士以东撤军结束;这一年，人们对英国的全球作用进行了更现实的评估，并预示着秘密行动的转变，从全球到北方爱尔兰的重点。该项目的主要产出是一本专著，将涉及三个广泛的主题：（一）秘密行动揭示了英国在全球的角色;（二）衰落以及义务和实力之间日益扩大的差距如何塑造了干涉主义;以及（iii）白厅对情报、秘密行动和政策。它将争辩说，总理和外交部长使用秘密行动作为外交政策的工具，他们通过SIS这样做，揭示了（a）英国情报人员积极塑造国际关系，（B）秘密行动与核心行政人员联系在一起。为了弥合义务与实力之间的差距，英国制定了一系列谨慎的秘密行动战略，旨在保持影响力。每一个都将按主题进行处理，并使用定性的历史方法，主要是通过英国和美国的档案。第一节：过渡探索从战争到和平的范式变化如何影响英国对秘密行动的态度，本节将研究冷战早期制定的许多秘密行动战略。其中包括一个雄心勃勃的和短暂的解放战略和一个更保守的“针刺”的方法，试图逐步削弱苏联的权威。突出更大的干预比历史学家目前允许的，这一节试图重铸白厅的早期冷战policy.Section II：Counter-SubversionUsing隐蔽行动作为一种工具，探讨英国的企图，以维持一个全球性的作用，这一节分析了决策者如何使用隐蔽行动，以克服政治，经济和军事的限制。探索地缘战略背景，经济问题和帝国遗产，它探讨了为什么秘密行动在中东，殖民地和英联邦如此有吸引力。它评估了所采用的战略（“反颠覆”），执行的战术，以及对英美关系的影响。本节还探讨了反颠覆如何强调宣传和政治行动，同时将军事参与置于次要地位。它将秘密行动置于外交部和国防部之间更广泛的紧张关系中。第三节：“联合“审查“联合”（SIS和特种部队之间的联络）的概念，在20世纪60年代发展和今天仍然存在的演变，这一部分集中在中东和东南亚。它考虑了政府如何在更大、更准军事的规模上使用秘密行动来实现政策目标--以及他们如何确保在议会和联合国的可否认性。现在是进行这种研究的适当时机。首先，这些概念是高度相关的。它们是当前关于英国全球角色以及情报在国际事务中作用的辩论的同义词。其次，最近的档案发布允许英国海外政策的实践和现有的正统挑战的反思。奖学金将通过建立新的联系，管理研究助理，组织会议，塑造国际研究议程，帮助我成为英国秘密行动在此期间最重要的专家发展我的领导技能。

This fellowship analyses Britain's approach to covert action between 1945 and 1968. Covert action is a state's intervention in the affairs of another in a plausibly deniable manner, including through propaganda, paramilitary, and subversive political activity. Unlike espionage, it is active and seeks to shape events itself. The project begins with the transition from war to peace and ends with Britain's decision to withdraw from East of Suez in 1968; a year which saw steps toward a more realistic appraisal of Britain's global role and heralded a transition in covert action, from a global to a Northern Ireland focus. The project's main output, a monograph, will address three broad themes: (i) what covert action reveals about Britain's perceived global role; (ii) how decline and the growing disparity between obligations and strength shaped interventionism; and (iii) Whitehall's evolving understanding of the relationship between intelligence, covert action and policy.It will argue that Prime Ministers and Foreign Secretaries used covert action as an instrument of foreign policy and that they did so through SIS, revealing that (a) British intelligence actors actively shaped international relations and (b) covert action was tied to the core executive. Bridging the gap between obligations and strength, Britain developed a series of cautious covert action strategies designed to maintain influence.Analysis will be divided into three sections. Each will be approached thematically and use qualitative historical method, predominantly through archives in the United Kingdom and America. Section I: TransitionExploring how the changing paradigm from war to peace impacted upon British attitudes to covert action, this section will examine a number of covert action strategies developed in the early Cold War. These included an ambitious and short-lived liberation strategy and a more conservative "pinprick" approach, which sought to chip away gradually at Soviet authority. Highlighting greater intervention than historians currently allow, this section seeks to recast Whitehall's early Cold War policy.Section II: Counter-SubversionUsing covert action as a vehicle to explore Britain's attempts to sustain a global role, this section analyses how policymakers used covert action to overcome political, economic, and military constraints. Exploring geo-strategic contexts, economic issues, and imperial legacies, it examines why covert action was so appealing in the Middle East, colonies, and Commonwealth. It assesses the strategy employed ("counter-subversion"), the tactics executed, and the impact upon the Anglo-American relationship. This section also explores how counter-subversion emphasised propaganda and political action, whilst side-lining military involvement. It places covert action within broader tension between the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence. Section III: "Jointery"Examining the evolving concept of "jointery"(liaison between SIS and Special Forces) which developed in the 1960s and remains in place today, this section focuses on the Middle East and South East Asia. It considers how governments used covert action on a larger, more paramilitary, scale to achieve policy goals - and how they ensured deniability in parliament and the United Nations. It is an opportune time to conduct such research. Firstly, these concepts are highly relevant. They are synonymous with current debates about Britain's global role, as well as the role of intelligence in international affairs. Secondly, recent archival releases permit a rethinking of the practice of British overseas policy and a challenge to existing orthodoxies.The fellowship will develop my leadership skills through establishing new contacts, managing a Research Assistant, organising a conference, and shaping the international research agenda, helping me to become the foremost expert on British covert action during this period.