Britain's Un Diplomacy

This doctoral dissertation is a systematic effort to arrange, analyze and examine British UN policy since the end of the Second World War. The paper explores the transformation and evolvement of British UN policy and summarizes its features on every phase of and in the entire changing process. It also analyzes factors that have had an impact on British UN diplomacy from political-philosophical perspective. Based on these analyses, the paper forecasts the trend of British UN diplomacy.On the basis of macro-research, the paper selects historical events that are most typical and representative of different historical periods and makes detailed and in-depth case studies, which are at once a complement to the dissertation and confirmation of the conclusion of the macro-research.This paper argues that British UN diplomacy has gone through four historical phases, each of which has distinctive features.1.From the establishment of the UN to the late 1940sUK is one of the founding nations of the UN and was one of the four big powers that were expected to safeguard post-war collective security. However, a variety of unfavourable factors prevented Britain maintaining its position as one of the big five. First, the decline of Britain was not able to provide it with adequate resources to be a world power. Second, after the Second World War, the independent movement of British colonies, which swept across the British Empire, led to the gradual collapse of the empire. This made the revitalization of the British Empire impossible. Third, under the pressure of the US and the Soviet Union, the international position of Britain declined rapidly.Against this historical background, the British UN diplomacy was unable to support its aspiration to rejuvenate the empire. During the process of founding UN, Britain struggled with the US and the Soviet Union on the issues of the UN's framework and institutions. Some of British proposals were accepted, while some were rejected. As a result, a UN serving British needs proved an abortion. In order to make the UN a favorable tool in its hands, Britain supported France in its efforts to join in the club of the big five and become one of the permanent members of the Security Council.Britain's defeats in the initial stage of the founding of the UN, the louder independent claims of the colonies and the pressure of expansionism of the US and the Soviet Union contribute to the constant setbacks of Britain in the UN. To deal with the difficult situation, Britain set out to adopt dual tactics of resistance and exploitation.2. British UN diplomacy in the 1950sIn the 1950s, war was the primary issue of British UN diplomacy. Britain involved itself in the Korean War and the Suez Canal War, which were different both in nature and outcome. The former was not a war on the part of Britain, whose main aim was to cement its alliance with the US and maintain the stabilization of its South-eastern Asian colonies.However, Britain was reluctant to undermine its relationships with China and the Soviet Union, thus handicapping its national interests in the tow countries. Therefore, its free-ride policy made Britain a half-hearted participant, and directly caused the downfall of the Attlee government. The Suez Crisis in 1956 can be considered as the climax and end of the first phase of British UN diplomacy (from the early post-war years to the mid-1950s). Due to the war, the Anglo-American relationship was at the lowest ebb after the war. Britain used veto twice, making it a loner in the UN. It also led to the downfall of Eden government. The double tactics had been exhausted.3. Adjustments of Britain's UN diplomacy under the impact of the UN decolonization in the 1960sIn the 1960s, the UN's decolonization process was stepped up. Meanwhile, the independent movement within the British Empire was pushed to a new phase. Despite various resistance to the pressure from the UN, Britain was forced to adjust its colony policy and its global strategy, quickening its decolonizaiton process. Up to 1971, th...