British Foreign Policy Under New Labour, 1997–2005

PAUL D. WILLIAMS is Senior Lecturer in Security Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. His main research interests are British foreign policy and international peacekeeping. He is co-author of Understanding Peacekeeping and co-editor of Africa in International Politics and Peace Operations and Global Order.

This important new study provides a critical analysis of the foreign policies conducted during the first two terms of Tony Blair's government. and how Blair's government dealt with five fundamental policy issues (political economy, defence, international development, intervention, and Iraq).This important new study provides a critical analysis of the foreign policies conducted during the first two terms of Tony Blair's government. It focuses upon the government's key foreign policy commitments; three of its most important international relationships (with the US, the European Union, and Africa); and how Blair's government dealt with five fundamental policy issues (political economy, defence, international development, intervention, and Iraq). It argues that throughout this period Labour's foreign policies attempted to paper over some important contradictions.