The Study Of Diplomatic Thought Of James Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan was a remarkable leader of British Labour Party, since he was elected as a MP in 1945, Callaghan held the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer (1964-7), Home Secretary (1967-1970), Foreign Secretary (1974-1976) and Prime Minister (1976-1979), he was the first Prime Minister with such a comprehensive background, Callaghan’s pragmatic attitude shaped by his special life experience perfectly reflected in his diplomatic thought.After the World War Ⅱ, Britain faced with rising waves of nationalism in colonies, it was quite an issue in front of Britain that how to deal with the problems of nationalism and de-colonization, the establishment and collapse of Central African Federation was an important practice for Conservative Government to settle the troubles. However, the Conservative Government, regardless of the opposition of African people, tried to use the illusive "partnership" as reins to contain the increasing African nationalism, and to dam up the anti-British waves out of CAF, aiming at strengthening the connections between the African colonies with Britain by cooling the nationalism off gradually through European minority, to reach the goal of unity and stability of Commonwealth and maintain the existence of the British Empire geographically. Callaghan has visited Africa a couple of times, which led Callaghan to advocate Africans’rights, Callaghan deemed it was the best way to protectCommonwealth, therefore, Callaghan objected the CAF determinedly. Callaghan expressed his ideas via the Parliament and newspapers, opposed the CAF project which neglected the rights of Africans. Ultimately, the CAF shattered after ten years, which proved Callaghan and Labour Party belonged to the right side, apart from that, it also reflected the pragmatic diplomatic ideas to which Callaghan stuck when he was faced with the Commonwealth problems. Callaghan’s views on CAF allowed him to take part in the process when the British foreign policy was made, and laid the crucial practice foundation of further participation in foreign affairs.In 1957, the European Economic Community was set up, the Conservative Party followed the longstanding tradition of British foreign policy and kept her hand out when EEC was established, however, the basis of this tradition is becoming vulnerable when Britain was relatively declining, and the isolation from Europe would be equal to self-seclusion. The absence of Britain when the EEC was established would made Britain forced to accept the tough terms when she tried to get involved, Callaghan who experienced the devaluation crisis thought this would be an overloaded burden for Britain, on the other hand, Callaghan grasped the importance of EEC for Britain, so the "Re-negotiation" emerged to be an essential solution. After Re-negotiation, Callaghan broke the ice in the fields of budget contribution and Common Agricultural Policy, but the EEC membership tore the Labour apart. Aiming at uniting the Labour and enlarging the possibility for Britain to maintain membership, Callaghan decided to make a compromise to referendum. Callaghan created the constitutional practice foundation for referendum, which accelerated the development of referendum as a method for people to express their ideas. What is more important, the precedent which was set up by Callaghan to discuss the budget contribution also equipped Britain with the "constitutional practice" in EEC, and branded the principle to which the following Ministries may follow.Callaghan never discarded the relationship between Britain and America, furthermore, the connection was deepened when Callaghan was solving the Cyprus Crisis. Callaghan’s attitude towards CAF not only demonstrated his pragmatic diplomatic thought on Commonwealth issues, but also on colonial. CAF provideCallaghan with necessary experience to deal with colonies, nevertheless, there was twisted historical roots beneath Cyprus crisis. Callaghan hoped to fix the unequal terms in the constitution which the Conservative Government made in 1960 when Britain struggling with the independence of Cyprus, and to eliminate the hurt that the inequality brought to Greek and Turkish Cypriots. While Callaghan was reconciling the crisis, Callaghan sought America’s help initiatively, but America was unwilling to get involved, which worsened the situation, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots also missed the chance to repair the cracks. Callaghan had to fought on the first front to solve the crisis, notwithstanding, Callaghan did not take military actions during settling the crisis, the Suez Crisis had depicted the calamitous consequence if Britain took military actions, thus, the criticism to Callaghan on this matter was unfair, Callaghan was trying to avoid the catastrophic replay of Suez crisis.The performance of Callaghan on the stages of Central African Federation, Re-negotiation and Cyprus Crisis clearly showed the peculiar thought on British foreign policy, Callaghan broke through the "illusion of power and influence", trying to reconsider the British foreign policy through a pragmatic and realistic lens, and to find the appropriate position that suit the capability of Britain in the changing world arena, instead of unrealistic imagination of occupying the whole mosaic jigsaw, undoubtedly, Callaghan "inject some reality into" British foreign policy, avoided the disasters resulted from overplaying, and this could be the major contribution of Callaghan to British foreign policy.