1st Edition
Labour’s Ballistic Missile Defence Policy 1997-2010 A Strategic Relational Analysis
This book uses the ‘strategic-relational approach’ to explain how the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown integrated the United Kingdom into the US ballistic missile defence system in order to maintain national security and to uphold the ‘special relationship’ while at the same time recognising that voters were in general opposed to missile defence.
Labour’s Ballistic Missile Defence Policy 1997–2010 examines how the Labour administration was tasked with navigating a domestic political environment in which they had to appear tough on defence in general in order to appeal to a broader range of the electorate while recognising that voters were opposed to missile defence in particular. This book seeks to answer the question of why the centre-left government of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, elected on a mandate of multi-lateralism in international relations and espousing an ‘ethical dimension’ to foreign policy, committed the United Kingdom to US ballistic missile defence – an internationally divisive military project associated with the US Republican Party and George W. Bush in particular.
This book is essential for students and researchers interested in British military history, international relations, strategic studies, British politics, Labour politics and political theory.
1. The Strategic-Relational Approach 2. Strategic and Technical Aspects of BMD 3. Labour’s BMD Policy in the First Parliament (1997-2001) 4. Labour’s BMD Policy in the Second Parliament (2001-2005) 5. Labour’s BMD policy in the Third Parliament (2005-2010)
Biography
Dr James Simpkin is a tutor at Craven College, North Yorkshire. He gained his PhD from the University of Leeds in 2021. His research interests are focused on ballistic missile defence in a British context and its impact on Labour Party defence policy. He lives with his family in Keighley, West Yorkshire.
This book is absolutely essential reading for anyone wanting to know more about the United Kingdom’s largely unknown role in the United States’ highly controversial ballistic missile defence project in the 1990s and 2000s. James Simpkin does a great job of weaving together the fascinating strands of this political and strategic story in a sophisticated, insightful and engaging way.
Professor Andrew Futter, University of Leicester.
