A Study On The Anglo-American Special Relationship In The Blair Era

From 1997 to 2007, during his ten years as the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair successfully altered the Anglo-American relationship from the"natural"one to the"special"one. Although provoked as much condemnation as admiration, depending on the Anglo-American relationship, Blair led Britain to restore its reputation and status in the international arena with ease. Basing on the ten years, this thesis started from the background of that time in Britain and abroad, such as the difficult situation of the Anglo-American relationship because of the Northern Ireland issue, a kind of obvious tendency of globalization, and so on. The thesis divided the Anglo-American relationship in the Blair era into three phases- the phase of adjusting, warming, and fluctuating–that clearly reflected three features in the mass that are the continuity of Britain foreign policies in history, the balance of the policy between U.S. and Europe, and the interdependence of U.S. and Britain. Then, the thesis analyzed the main factors that had an effect on the two countries'relationship, such as the conformity of the diplomatic concepts of the two countries'leaders, the close personal relationship between Blair and Clinton and Bush, the stability of the economic and trade cooperation, and so on. It also did a study on the foreign policies of Britain government in the"post-Blair era"on like how to deal with the complex relationships with U.S. and Europe, how to handle the challenges from the globalization and so on. In the end, it summarized the Blair era in brief. Besides, the thesis tried to do a comprehensive survey on the Anglo-American relationship in the Blair era through the neo-liberalism (interdependence theory).