What is the point of British foreign policy?

Too often, debates are limited to the question of whether such strategies ‘work’, but beyond that, what do they tell us about the state of the political elite, and what might they mean for Britain’s ability to act in the world?

New Labour came to power declaring they would pursue an ethical foreign policy based on the ideals of liberty and democracy rather than sordid national interest, but a decade on and after the debacle of Iraq, such rhetoric rings hollow. Gordon Brown’s new National Security Strategy and David Miliband’s ‘The Democratic Imperative’ speech have promised a robust and meaningful role for Britain in the international arena, but it is unclear whether they can live up to this promise.

The National Security Strategy claims to present a single overarching strategy, yet can there be a strategy that can deal with everything from international crime, to terrorism, energy competition, international poverty and inequality, and failed states? Meanwhile, Miliband has sought to breathe new life into ‘ethical foreign policy’ by disassociating the ideal of spreading democracy from the so-called neocons and the failures of Iraq. Can ethically orientated intervention in support of human rights and struggles for democracy elsewhere in the world provide Britain with a coherent moral sense of itself either domestically or internationally? Too often, debates are limited to the question of whether such strategies ‘work’, but beyond that, what do they tell us about the state of the political elite, and what might they mean for Britain’s ability to act in the world? How do we define the national interest today, and is Britain’s foreign policy a coherent expression of it?

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