Britain and Europe from 1945 to Brexit

Description

The UK emerged from the Second World War as a great power in mind but no longer in fact. Britain’s current foreign policy was forged throughout the second half of the 20^th century by taking stock of her own relative decline in power as well as trying to find remedies to overcome it. In this respect, Britain’s relation with Europe provides an interesting lens through which to analyse Britain’s foreign policy, and particularly the difficulties linked to the adaptation of her role in the post-war international order. 

The UK joined the EEC in 1973 after two unsuccessful attempts, more than 15 years after its creation. The question of membership of the EEC was always a highly divisive issue and remained so even after 1973, only to reach a kind of climax at the end of the last decade with the organisation of the second referendum on membership and the victory of Brexit. 

It will be the object of this module to give some keys to understand Britain’s tumultuous and ambiguous relation to the European construction project and the EEC/EU, from her initial refusal to join the EEC to her repeated applications for membership, which turned into a so called “awkward partnership”. The module will explore how Britain’s foreign policy and vision of her role in the world informed, as much as it was informed by, her relation to Europe and European integration.

This module will follow a chronological outline, in order to identify the continuities and changes in Britain’s foreign policy choices and participation to the European regional organisation.

Compétences visées

Objectives :

- To appraise Britain’s vision of European construction after WW2
- To account for the ups and downs of Britain/EEC-EU relations since 1973
- To understand the various factors that led to Britain’s applications, membership and exit
- To critically evaluate Britain’s foreign policy since 1945 and identify the driving forces behind it as well as their impact on Britain’s European commitment
- To have a better grasp of Britain’s current foreign policy choices, challenges and perspectives in the wake of Brexit
- To analyse primary sources

Modalités d'organisation et de suivi

Note that the online teaching method as well as the assessment might be slightly adapted according to the number of students actually enrolled.

-          45mn-to-one-hour online interactive classes every week for a first discussion on the topic of the week.

-          Weekly podcast lectures providing background knowledge on the topic discussed during the class

Profitable participation in class discussions requires regular compulsory readings every week.

The online classes will take place on  Zoom (link available every week on the Moodle page)

Syllabus

The course will be organised around a number of topics, by chronological order.

Session 1 : Introduction

1- The post-war paradigm of Britain’s foreign policy

- Session 2: Churchill’s three circles and Labour’s foreign policy in the first years of the Cold War (1945-55)
- Session 3: “Missing the boat”? Britain and the creation of the EEC

2-To join or not to join?

- Session 4: Defining priorities: the consolidation of the special relationship under Macmillan
- Session 5: Walking a tight rope: the representation and meaning of the first application 
- Session 6: Between the Devil and the deep blue sea: the second application

3- An awkward partner ?

- Session 7: The difficult adjustment of the “sick man of Europe” among the European Six (1973-1979) 
- Session 8: From the “European jumper” to the Bruges speech: Britain and the EEC under Thatcher
- Session 9: Towards deeper integration? The making of the EU and the ambiguities of Britain’s European policy / concluding remarks

Bibliographie

Bennet G., Six moments of crisis: inside British foreign policy, Oxford University Press, 2013
Daddow O., Harold Wilson and European Integration: Britain’s Second Application to join the EEC, London: Franck Cass, 2003
Daddow O., Britain and Europe since 1945, Manchester University Press, 2004
Daddow O., Gaskarth J. (eds), British Foreign Policy: the New Labour years, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
Garnett M., Mabon S. (eds.) British foreign policy since 1945, Routledge, 2018
Gibbins J., Britain, Europe and National Identity: Self and Other in International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
Gowland D., Turner A., Wright A., Britain and European Integration since 1945, Routledge, 2010.
Greenwood S., Britain in the Cold War, 1945-1991, Macmillan, 2000.
Harris T., Une certaine idée de l’Angleterre : la politique étrangère britannique au 20^ème siècle, Armand Colin, 2006
Kaiser W., Staerk G (eds.) British Foreign Policy, 1955-64: Contracting Options, St Martin’s Press, 2000
Liddle R., The Europe Dilemma: Britain and the Drama of EU Integration, I.B. Tauris, 2014
McCourt D.M., Britain and World Power since 1945, The University of Michigan Press, 2014
McKercher B.J.C., Britain, America and the Special Relationship from 1941, Routledge, 2017.
Murphy Ph. The Empire’s new clothes: the myth of Commonwealth, Hurst&co, 2018
Reynolds D., Britannia Overruled: British policy and world power in the 20^th century (1991) Longman, 2000
Sanders D., Losing an Empire, finding a role: British foreign policy since 1945, (2^nd ed) Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
Schnapper P., Avril E., Où va le Royaume Uni ? Le Brexit et après, Odile Jacob, 2019
Smith J., The UK’s journey into and out of the EU: Destinations Unknown, Routledge, 2017
Tate S., A special relationship? British foreign policy in the era of American hegemony, Manchester University Press, 2012
Turner M., Britain and the world in the twentieth century: ever-decreasing