Description
Book SynopsisA reassessment of the relationship between the UK and the USSR at a troubled time.The then Labour government's efforts to promote East-West
détente and to improve Anglo-Soviet relations from 1964 to 1970 have been largely overlooked; yet they were of huge significance. This book offers a major reappraisal. It challenges the caricature of Harold Wilson's rigid subservience to America, demonstrating that as a Prime Minister he intended to develop closer contacts with the Soviet leadership, and to foster co-operation on arms control, conflict resolution in Vietnam and East-West trade. It illustrates how the Labour government reconciled its policy towards the USSR and Warsaw Pact states with its alignment with the USA and NATO membership. And it concludes that Wilson's failure to improve relations between the UK and USSR was due to both the impact of crises in Vietnam, the Middle East and Czechoslovakia, and to the unwillingness of the Soviet government to alter its fundamentally adversarial attitude to the West. GERAINT HUGHES teaches at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham.
Trade ReviewA solid, insightful contribution to the literature, which serves as a thorough overview of this era and the Labour government's foreign policy. * CERCLES *
The strength of the book is that it locates foreign and defence policy within a tapestry of domestic political, national and international contexts. The role and perspectives of individuals are also illuminated. [...] Hughes provides helpful detail and perspective in exploring the expectations of, and challenges for, Labour's Ostpolitik, and is a valuable overview for students of British foreign and security policy, as well as for those interested in the foreign and defence policies of Labour governments. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *
Table of ContentsIntroduction The evolution of British Cold War policy, 1945-1964 The UK and East-West relations, 1964-1965 The Wilson government and the Vietnam War, 1965-1968 British strategy and defence policy, 1964-1968 Détente, trade and espionage, 1964-1968 The 'Prague Spring' and its aftermath, 1968-1970 Conclusion Bibliography
