Finding Britain's place in the 'New World Order': foreign policy in the Thatcher and Major governments at the end of the Cold War

这个项目将研究英国在冷战最后几年及其后果的外交政策，使用最近发布的档案材料来揭示一个高度政治化和缺乏理解的时期。它会问：1。在冷战的最后阶段，英国寻求实现什么目标？撒切尔和梅杰政府在多大程度上实现了这些目标？这些政府做出了哪些努力，使英国重新适应冷战后的政治环境？它们在多大程度上取得了成功？英国在这一时期的重要性还没有得到充分的研究，外交史上新的研究方法的发展还没有反映在学术研究中。虽然旧的报道推崇以超级大国为中心的叙事，但较新的作品将讨论“国际化”，但将英国抛在了后面。例如，Bozo（2008）强调了法德的作用，Albers和Chen（2017）研究了中国的贡献，但缺乏关于英国的目标、限制和地位的研究。在方法论上，Service（2015）和Brown（2020）以外交史上日益增长的“情感转向”为基础，讨论了个人关系在冷战后期外交中的重要性以及其中的情感背景，但英国只被认为是与超级大国的交叉点。我的项目将这两种趋势结合起来，从英国的角度审视这些事件，同时运用现代的方法来解释重要的情感因素，从而使这些事件国际化。英国在学术领域的边缘化源于一股“衰落主义”的潮流，档案材料的缺乏导致了对其影响力日益恶化的简单化叙述。汤姆林森（2016）认为，“政治化和论战性话语”的不成比例的影响掩盖了对英国影响的更多方面的审查，但随着这一时期的大量档案材料最近变得可用，挑战这一立场的机会已经出现。英国外交部和首相办公室的新材料将支持这一项目，剑桥大学丘吉尔学院将主持来自关键人物的论文，以及他们的BDOH项目，其中包括对外交官员的采访。有关英美关系的最新美国文件可以在里根/布什图书馆、国家安全档案馆和国家档案馆找到，其中许多文件可以通过usdo项目获得数字文件。这个项目也可能是收集梅杰、赫德和里夫金德等关键人物口述历史的最后机会，他们的反思提供了不可替代的洞察力。我计划第一年（2022-23年）在英国工作，第二年（2023- 24年）访问美国。数字化资源的可用性越来越高，这为灵活性提供了条件：如果COVID-19成为面对面研究的障碍，可以优先考虑在线资源，美国之行将推迟到2024-25年。该项目将重新评估我们目前对撒切尔政府在冷战后期地位的理解，并首次深入研究主要政府在冷战高潮时期所扮演的角色，挑战这些动荡时期的文化建设。通过对最近的过去提供一个新的、细致入微的视角，它将为今天的外交政策制定者提供宝贵的见解。

This project will examine British foreign policy in the final years of the Cold War and its aftermath, using recently-released archival material to shed new light on a period which remains highly politicised and poorly understood.It will ask:1. What did Britain seek to accomplish in the final period of the Cold War, and to what extent did the Thatcher and Major governments achieve those aims?2. What efforts were made by these governments to reorient Britain towards a post-Cold War political environment, and to what extent were they successful?Britain's significance in this period is undeservedly under-studied, and new methodological developments in diplomatic history are yet to be reflected in the scholarship. While older accounts privilege superpower-centric narratives, newer works have 'internationalised' the discussion but left Britain behind. For example, Bozo (2008) emphasises the Franco-German role and Albers and Chen (2017) examine Chinese contributions, but there is a dearth of work on Britain's objectives, constraints, and place. Methodologically, Service (2015) and Brown (2020) build on the growing 'emotional turn' in diplomatic history by discussing the significance of personal relations in late-Cold War diplomacy and the emotional context therein, but Britain is considered only at its intersections with the superpowers. My project unifies these two trends, internationalising these events by examining them from the British perspective while applying a modern methodology which accounts for important emotional factors.Britain's marginalisation in the scholarship stems from a current of 'declinism', where a paucity of archival material has given rise to simplistic narratives of deteriorating influence. Tomlinson (2016) argues that the disproportionate influence of 'politicized and polemical discourses' overshadows a more multifaceted examination of Britain's impact, but an opportunity to challenge this position has arisen as a large amount of archival material from this period has recently become available. New FCO and Prime Minister's Office material will underpin this project, and Churchill College, Cambridge, hosts papers from key figures alongside their BDOH Programme which includes interviews with diplomatic officials. Newly available US documents on the Anglo-American relationship are found in the Reagan/Bush Libraries, the National Security Archive and the National Archives, and many are available digitally via the USDDO programme. This project may also represent the last opportunity to collect oral history from key figures such as Major, Hurd and Rifkind, and their reflections offer irreplaceable insight.I plan to work on UK-based sources in the first year (2022-23) and visit the US in the second year (2023- 24). The rising availability of digitised sources allows for flexibility: online resources can be prioritised if COVID-19 becomes an impediment to in-person research, with the US trip delayed to 2024-25.This project will re-evaluate our current understanding of the Thatcher government's place in the latter years of the Cold War and provide the first in-depth examination of the Major government's role in its culmination, challenging the cultural construction of these turbulent times. By offering a new and nuanced perspective on the recent past, it will give invaluable insight to the makers of foreign policy today.