The Future of British Foreign Policy: Security and Diplomacy in a World after Brexit

by Christopher Hill

Since 1945, Britain has had to cope with a slow descent from international primacy. The decline in global influence was intended to be offset by the United Kingdom’s entry into Europe in 1975, with the result that national foreign policy came to rest on the two pillars of the Atlantic alliance and the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU.  Yet, with Brexit, one of these pillars is now being removed, leaving Britain facing some serious challenges arising from the prospect of independence.

In this incisive book, Christopher Hill explores what lies ahead for British foreign policy in the shadows of Brexit and a more distant and protectionist America under Donald Trump.  While there is much talk of a renewed global profile for the UK, Hill cautions that this is going to be difficult to turn into practical reality. Geography, history and limited resources mean that Britain is doomed to seek a continued foreign policy partnership with the Member States of the Union – only now it will be from outside the room looking in. As a result, there is the distinct possibility that both British and European foreign policies will end up worse off as the result of their divorce.

Genres: Politics

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 12, 2019

About the author

John Edward Christopher Hill was the pre-eminent historian of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English history, and one of the most distinguished historians of recent times. Fellow historian E.P. Thompson once referred to him as the dean and paragon of English historians.

He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. During World War II, he served in the Russian department of the British Foreign Office, returning to teach at Oxford after the war.

From 1958-1965 he was University Lecturer in 16th- and 17th-century history, and from 1965-1978 he was Master of Balliol College. He was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the British Academy. He received numerous honorary degrees over the course of his career, including the Hon. Dr. Sorbonne Nouvelle in 1979.

Hill was an active Marxist and a member of the Communist Party from approximately 1934-1957, falling out with the Party after the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian uprisings of 1956.

In their obituary, The Guardian wrote of Hill:

"Christopher Hill…was the commanding interpreter of 17th-century England, and of much else besides.…it was as the defining Marxist historian of the century of revolution, the title of one of the most widely studied of his many books, that he became known to generations of students around the world. For all these, too, he will always be the master." [http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/...]

Reviews

[AN · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.4/5) There are a couple of things that I think need to be noted before I get too far into my review.
First, I feel that this book is misnamed. It is less about the future of British Foreign Policy than it is about its history in the 20th century, up to the present. While it does discuss briefly what the potential future looks like, it is not the meat of this book.
Second, this book is not for novices - it presumes a certain amount of knowledge that is already held by the reader, and assumes you are at least passingly familiar with the last 30 or so years of British politics, as well as other large events. There are also terms of art used without explanation. Ultimately, I could not recommend this for someone without at least a background in politics, and some general history of the UK and Europe since the end of World War II. It does provide a fantastic bibliography of further works that may provide more background.
On to the main review!
My main issue with this book was that it spent a lot of time discussing the same issues, or nations, and felt like it could easily have been 50 pages less had it gave been truncated and did not repeat itself. I could not confidently call myself an expert by any means on the state of British Foreign Policy going into this book, but I don't feel like I've learned much in terms of the present day policies, or where it could go next, that I did not already know. It's a peculiar place that it places itself in - it both relies on your base knowledge, while assuming you have remained ignorant to some of the larger discussions that are being had (though perhaps these discussions are not being held in the UK as they are being held abroad).
It was well written, if a little academic in places for it to appeal to the general market. It is a fascinating, if rushed, history of the foreign relations and policies, which is where this book really shines.

[Leslie Yong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author took the challenge to embark on writing despite of the many odd against the uncharted course of Britain politics on talk on the on-going Brexit. The speculation on the impacts of Brexit on the future of Uk and various scenarios of what could happen is as good as any one guesses.
However, with much knowledge and extensive experiences of the author, he is able to put together a powerful and meaningful (possible) foreign policies open to Uk after the Brexit. For those who are followers of British foreign policies, It’s therefore interesting to understand the various scenarios that plays out as the EU political situation unfold.