Landeskunde Seminar
"The American Social Landscape"

Current Relations between the USA and the UK

written by

John Philipp Knorr

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Current Relations between the USA and the UK
2.1. The Partnership
2.1.1. Tony Blair′s Personal Role
2.1.2. The UK′s Role
2.2. The ′Iraq Question′
2.3. The Steel Tariffs

3. Disadvantages and Advantages for the USA and the UK

4. Conclusion

Bibliography

1. Introduction

The relations between two important countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, have always been interesting to watch for people strongly interested in foreign politics and international interaction. But since September 11th 2001 this has changed completely; with the assaults of the al-Qaeda terrorists on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, it has been proven that terrorist attacks can happen any where in the world. Hence everybody should be interested in what the leaders of the international alliance against terrorism are doing or planning to do. The leader of the alliance are of course the USA, simply because the attacks happened in their country and it is undoubted that they are still the only world power. But Great Britain is also heavily involved in the "war against terrorism"¹, not only because of the death of many Britons in the WTC or because NATO invoked Article 5 ("an attack on one member state is an attack on all"²), but because of a strong multitude of cultural and historical bonds with the United States.

Great Britain and the USA are often said to have a ′special relationship′, so to analyze this relationship in its current form, I am going to first describe Tony Blair′s personal role in the partnership with the USA and thus with George W. Bush. This includes why he and G. W. Bush are working together so well although their characters and social backgrounds are very different, and an overview of the different ways Tony Blair′s role in the alliance against terror is seen in the world. Afterwards I am going to illustrate Great Britain′s role as a bridge between the United States and continental Europe. Obviously this will not be possible without describing Great Britain′s general role in the EU and again mentioning Premier Minister Tony Blair, but in this section his actions represent Great Britain as a nation and himself.
Nearly every European country and many countries all over the world are supporting the war on terror, partly because of NATO Article 5, but primarily because they think it is the only way to stop terrorism. But most of the European leaders do not share Bush′s view of the ′axis of evil′ consisting of Iran, Iraq and North Korea, expressed in his state-of-the-union address in January 2002. In the next section I will show that this causes problems for Great Britain and Tony Blair because there will probably be no world alliance for military action against Iraq. This will force Britain to decide whether they are still ′shoulder by shoulder′ with the United States and will join the USA in whatever action they take, or if they risk their ′special relationship′ with the United States by offending them.

Another load that weights heavily on the relations between the USA and Great Britain are the steel tariffs which Bush announced to protect the American steel industry. These tariffs could cause severe economic difficulties for Great Britain (as well as for some other countries of the EU). As Blair′s current situation on the ′home front′ is not very comfortable, with dead-beat railway tracks, unreliable trains and unsatisfactory health service, this additional problem created by the USA will emphasize the discussion of how much solidarity really is necessary. Afterwards I am going to point out the negative effects for the USA and the United Kingdom and, of course, also the advantages for both countries resulting out of their current interactions. The conclusion will pinpoint the dangers of the present and give an outlook on the future prospects of the ′special relationship′ between these two countries.

2. Current Relations between the USA and the UK

2.1. The Partnership

2.1.1. Tony Blair′s Personal Role

Tony Blair may be not the leading man of the global alliance against terrorism, but he surely plays an important role in this coalition. Even if he is not an equitable partner to Bush, he is much more than just the shadow of Bush or the ‘little brother’ ³. For many people it is quite surprising how well Bush and Blair work together although their personalities are very different: On one side Tony Blair, a liberal politician with an intellectual background who has a very good reputation everywhere in the world and on the other side George W. Bush, a conservative politician without much knowledge of foreign politics and diplomacy, who often appears to be a ‘normal guy’ from Texas. But as both are pragmatists these differences do not seem to matter.⁴ Bush and Blair complement one another very well; while Bush is more involved in the military conduct of the ‘war on terror’ , Blair ensures that the global alliance stays together.

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1 Bagehot, “Getting above his station” , The Economist, 6 October 2001, p.56

2 Editorial, “ Chilly in the west, warmer in the east” , The Economist, 25 May 2002, p.39

3 Kroder, T. and Esterhazy, Y., “Der kleinere Bruder” , Financial Times Deutschland, 12 October 2001

4 McGuire, S., “ The Marriage Counselor” , Newsweek International, 3 June 2002