Reflections at 100: UK foreign policy

Undercurrents

What has been going on in UK foreign policy over the last century, and how have leading thinkers approached it? To mark the 100th anniversary of International Affairs, the journal of Chatham House, a new series of six archive collections will explore the past, present and future of current affairs issues. Each collection will be accompanied by an episode in this mini-series, where we consider what the research tells us about policy-making today.

In this episode we’re talking about the first archive collection, on UK foreign policy. Krisztina Csortea, Managing Editor of the journal, and Isabel Muttreja, Marketing Manager speak to the collection’s editor (and Undercurrents host) Ben Horton about the four themes that UK foreign policy-makers and analysts have been preoccupied with over the last century.

Then, Isabel speaks to The Rt. Honourable Lord William Wallace of Saltaire about how national identity continues to shape UK foreign policy-making, and how his 1990 article relates to Brexit and global Britain. Then Krisztina finds out about the UK’s accountability for acts of torture during the War on Terror, with Ruth Blakeley, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield.

International Affairs was started at Chatham House in 1922 to communicate research to members who could not attend in person. Over the last 100 years it has transformed into a journal that publishes academically rigorous and policy relevant research. It is published for Chatham House by Oxford University Press. Read the latest issue here.

Explore the archive collection, including Ben’s open access introduction:

100 years of UK foreign policy

Read William Wallace’s article:

Foreign policy and national identity in the United Kingdom 

Read Ruth Blakeley’s article:

Accountability, denial and the future-proofing of British torture

Credits:

Speakers: Ben Horton, William Wallace, Ruth Blakeley

Hosts: Isabel Muttreja, Krisztina Csortea

Editor: Jamie Reed Sound Services

Recorded and produced by Chatham House.