Anglo-American Defence Relations & the Government of Gordon Brown
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Durham E-Theses Anglo-American Defence Relations and the Government of Gordon Brown GANNON, PHILIP,RICHARD How to cite: GANNON, PHILIP,RICHARD (2015) Anglo-American Defence Relations and the Government of Gordon Brown, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10986/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Anglo-American Defence Relations & The Government of Gordon Brown Philip R. Gannon 2014 Durham University, School of Government and International Affairs Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations. Acknowledgements and Dedications I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor John Dumbrell and Dr Christian Schweiger for all their help and support. I would also like to thank my father, Tony Gannon for his time proof reading this thesis. I dedicate this thesis to my wife Bori Gannon for all of the love and support she offered me during my research. Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotations from it should be published without the author’s prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 2 Abstract This thesis intends to promote two key original contributions to the field of International Relations. One element of this thesis is to engage the body of work on Anglo-American relations with a set of International Relations theories in order to develop the understandings of the concept of the Special Relationship. By using the work of Alliance Theory and the English School’s notion of International Society, this thesis presents a lucid model for analysing Britain and America’s security partnerships. With this model in place, this thesis explores one of the most recent periods of the relationship by investigating the government of Gordon Brown. This thesis uses this International Relations theoretical approach to explore Anglo-American relations in the Brown period by investigating the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These conflicts were representative of the UK-US partnership and went through significant developments in the period between 2007 and 2010. In the case of Iraq, the Brown period saw the end of British combat operations and responsibility for parts of the country being handed back to the Iraqis. While these developments took place, attention returned to the war in Afghanistan and this period saw the emergence of serious problems in the conduct of the war. In this thesis, both of these conflicts are inspected by examining corresponding themes to demonstrate the working relationship between Britain and America. Equipment matters, troop power, military strategy and alliance relations are the four main grounds in which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are investigated to determine the success of the Anglo-American partnership under Gordon Brown. The findings of this thesis suggest that the Brown period saw the beginning of the deconstruction of the UK-US alliance as the goals of the alliance had failed to be achieved. Largely due to the British military’s inability to conduct both wars simultaneously to the standard needed for success, her credibility as a reliable partner to the US was diminished. Brown himself was criticised for limiting the capabilities of the armed forces to operate effectively. However, Brown remained a strong supporter of the US in the War on Terror and did aim to provide important contributions to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the failings of the alliance the theoretical approach to understanding the Special Relationship has proven to be an effective way to examine the nature of British and American interaction. 3 Table of Contents Abbreviations 7 List of Illustrations 7 Maps 8 1. Introduction 9 1.1. Research Aims 9 1.2. Research Questions 12 1.3. Thesis Structure 12 Part I 2. Methodology 16 2.1 Qualitative Research 16 2.2 List of Sources 17 3. The Special Relationship: Literature Review 23 3.1. Historical Origins 24 3.1.1 Co-operation or Competition? 24 3.2. Special Relationship Concepts 27 3.2.1. Hands-across-the-sea 27 3.2.2. Greeks and Romans 28 3.2.3. Atlantic Bridge 29 3.2.4. Poodleism 30 3.2.5. Lazarus 31 3.3. Construction 32 3.3.1. Interest or Sentiment 32 3.3.2. Middle Ground 34 3.4. Historiographical Schools 34 3.4.1. Evangelical 35 3.4.2. Functional 36 3.4.3. Terminal 36 3.5. Future Discourse 37 3.6. Remarks on Anglo-American literature 39 4. Contemporary British Foreign Policy 41 4.1. America and Europe 41 4.2. British Foreign Policy and International Relations Theory 43 5. Contemporary US Foreign Policy 46 5.1. Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism 46 5.2. Transatlantic Drift 48 5.3. Neo-conservatism 50 5.4. Bush to Obama 52 5.5. US Hegemony 53 6. Literature review highlights 56 7. The English School and International Society 57 7.1. Members of the English School 57 7.1.1. Hedley Bull 58 7.1.2. Alan James 61 7.1.3. Tim Dunne 63 7.1.4. Barry Buzan 65 4 7.2. International Society and the Special Relationship 67 8. Alliance Theory 69 8.1. Alliance Formation 69 8.2. Alliance Disintegration 72 8.3. Alliance Theory and the Special Relationship 73 9. The Special Relationship Alliance Theory 75 9.1. The Special Relationship or Anglo-American Affairs? 75 9.2. The Special Relationship Alliance in International Society 78 9.3. The Special Relationship Alliances and Alliance Theory 79 9.4. Aims, Objectives and Scope of the SRA 81 9.4.1. Elements of the SRA 82 9.4.1.1. Norms 83 9.4.1.2. Roles 84 9.4.1.3. Goals 85 9.5. Thesis Contribution 87 9.6. Limitations of SRA approach 88 Part II 10. Special Relationship Alliance III: Part I 91 10.1. Tony Blair in the Academic Literature 91 10.1.1. Debate I: Blair and Foreign Policy 92 10.1.2. Debate II: Blair’s Motivations 94 10.1.3. Debate III: The Academic View of Blair 96 10.2. Blair and America 98 10.3. The Formation of SRA III 99 10.3.1. 9/11: ‘Shoulder to shoulder’ 100 10.3.2. The War on Terror 102 10.3.3. Axis of Evil 105 10.3.4. The Crawford Meeting 107 10.4. SRA III 112 10.4.1. Norms and Roles 112 10.4.2. Goals 116 11. Gordon Brown: Prime Minister 122 11.1. Gordon Brown in the Academic Literature 122 11.1.1. Debate I: Brown and Foreign Policy 123 11.1.2. Debate II: Blair’s Legacy and Brown’s Leadership 126 11.1.3. Debate III: The Academic View of Brown 128 11.2. Brown as Chancellor 129 11.2.1. Defence Spending 129 11.2.2. Iraq Decision 132 11.2.3. Brown, Blair and the US 135 11.3. Brown as Prime Minister 137 11.3.1. Style and Ability 137 11.3.2. Appointments 141 11.3.3. Foreign and Security Policy 143 11.4. SRA III: 2007-2010 145 11.4.1. The British Government’s Views 146 11.4.2. The American Government’s Views 148 11.4.3. Parliamentary and Congressional Views 150 5 12. Special Relationship Alliance III: Part II – Iraq 2007-2009 152 12.1. Background 153 12.1.1. UK and US deployment – 2003 154 12.1.2. Operation Sinbad and the loss of Basra Palace 154 12.2. Equipment 154 12.2.1. British Funding and Equipment Issues 155 12.2.2. British Reliance on the US 158 12.3. Troop Power 159 12.3.1. Troop Levels 160 12.3.2. Troop Compatibility 163 12.4. Strategy 165 12.4.1. Surge 166 12.4.2. Force Commitment 169 12.4.2.1. Reduction 170 12.4.2.2. Withdrawal 172 12.4.3. Strategic Harmony 175 12.5. Alliance Relations 176 12.5.1. Reliable Ally 176 12.5.2. Unreliable Ally 178 12.6. Iraq and SRA III 179 13. Special Relationship Alliance III: Part III – Afghanistan 2007-2010 182 13.1. Background 181 13.1.1. Initial Invasion 181 13.1.2. British Deployment to Helmand 181 13.2. Equipment 182 13.2.1. Equipment Problems 182 13.2.2. Helicopters 188 13.3. Troop Power 192 13.3.1. Troop Levels 192 13.3.2. Other Troop Issues 195 13.4. Strategy 198 13.4.1. Overwatch/Engagement with Locals 198 13.4.2. Troop Surge 202 13.4.3. Pakistan 206 13.5. Alliance Relations 211 13.5.1. Burden-Sharing 211 13.5.2. UK-US Alliance Relations 215 13.6. Afghanistan and SRA III 218 14. Conclusion 220 14.1. Summary of Part I 221 14.2. Summary of Part II 223 14.3. Concluding analysis 223 14.4.