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Say it with documents: British policy overseas, 1945–1952.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 October 2010
Extract
It has not been easy for those in the relatively new field of international relations to find an intellectual niche, and a great deal of ink has been spilled in debates about the nature, sources and role of the discipline. The most basic area of the debate is between the largely British-based historical traditions and the North American behaviourist and ‘scientific’ schools. No doubt many international historians have winced at the vague phrase ‘history shows us that...’, which still appears in some textbooks. And no doubt international relations theorists have despaired of international history monographs in which the author appears to fail to draw any general conclusions after years of painstaking study in the archives. In institutions of higher education the professionals continually struggle to get the balance right between the different elements of an international relations degree, and the paucity of departments devoted solely to international relations is witness to the still ambiguous place of the discipline in the academic world. despite unrelenting student demand—but it also shows that the discipline is very much alive, vigorous, developing and innovative. It is also fairly obvious that intellectual disciplines do not have to be mutually exclusive, and perhaps one of the closest, even symbiotic, relationships is the key one between the study of international history and international relations, particularly foreign policy analysis.
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- Review Article
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- Copyright © British International Studies Association 1992
References
1 Foreign Relations of the United States series published by the American Government is the major English language series, although series also exist for, e.g. France, Documents Diplomatiques Francois, and Germany, Akten Zur Deutschen Auswartigen Politik.
2 Roger Bullen and Margaret Pelly, ‘Editorial Principles and Practice’, Occasional Papers, No I (FCO Historical Branch, November 1987), p. 14.
3 Parliamentary Debates, volume 859, July 1973.
4 Gooch, G. P. and Temperley, Harold (eds.), British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898–1914 (London, 1926–1938)Google Scholar; Woodward, E. L. and Butler, Rohan (eds.), Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939 (London, 1946–1986)Google Scholar.
5 Series I, volume I is indexed with volume II, and also has a rather more complicated cross reference system between the list of documents and the main topics of discussion at Potsdam.
6 Series I, volume I, p. lx.
7 Edmonds, Robin, Setting the Mould: The United States and Britain, 1945–1950 (Oxford, 1986)Google Scholar.
8 Bullen and Pelly, ‘Editorial Principles’, p. 17.
9 Ibid. p. 15.
10 Ibid. p. 22.
11 Series I, volume 1, no. 102, ‘Stocktaking After VE Day’, 11 July, 1945. This paper was well received both by officials and by the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden.
12 Series I, volume VI, nos. 77, 79, 80, 82–88. For Bevin’s admiration, see no. 83, note 5.
13 Series I, volume I, no. 119, Annex II, 10 July, 1945.
14 Series I, volume IV, no. 15, 13 August, 1945.
15 Series II, volume II, no. 20, ‘A Third World Power or Western Consolidation’, 19 April 1950, (this document first emerged from the Permanent Under Secretary’s Committee on 9 May 1949); nos. 67, 82, 84.
16 Series II, volume II, no. 30, 24 April, 1950, no. 57, 4 May 1950. Officials were fully aware, however, that if perceived threat came to actual war ‘there is nothing at present to stop the Russians occupying the entire Atlantic coast of Europe’, Series II, volume II, no. 20, 19 April 1950.
17 Series II, volume II, no. 53, April 1950.
18 Series II, volume I, no. 103.
19 Series II, volume I, no. 3, 10 May 1950.
20 Series II, volume I, no. 414, 12 December, 1951.
21 Series II, volume IV, appendix I, ‘Global Strategy’, 7 June 1950; Series II, volume I, no. 16, annex I, 11 May, 1950.
22 Series II, volume III, no. 115.
23 Series II, volume III, no. 116.
24 Series II, volume II, no. 117.
25 Morgan, Kenneth, Labour in Power, 1945–1951 (Oxford, 1984)Google Scholar. For further preliminary analyses of this question, see Smith, Raymond, ‘Ernest Bevin, British Officials and British Soviet Policy, 1945–47’, in Deighton, Anne (ed.), Britain and the First Cold War (London, 1990)Google Scholar, and Zametica, John (ed.), British Officials and British Foreign Policy 1945–50 (Leciester, 1990)Google Scholar.
26 There are, however, many interesting asides on most of these topics, which can be picked up by reference to each volume index.
27 Series I, volume I, no. 173.
28 Series II, volume III, no. 105.