British Foreign Policy Failures

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Register to read the introduction… Therefore some may argue it to be inevitable that Britain found such movements very difficult to control. This is includes the violent Mau Mau Rebellion of 1952 which is proclaimed to have been unexpected, but believed to have triggered reform and Kenyan independence in 1963. Also, Malaya and Cyprus too saw the occurrence of popular and unexpected demands for independence which increased Britains expenditure on defence causing in some cases the problem to escalate and therefore creating foreign policy failures. Because the fact that Britain was no longer financially secure, like many previous Imperial powers at the time Britain could no longer suppress these nationalists because it simply could not afford to and consequently decided to undergo decolonisation. Therefore, we can argue that foreign policy failures such as the Suez Crisis happened because Britain was now a pawn in a Kings game; therefore the emergence of new superpowers like the USA meant Britain could no longer throw its weight about. Britain was lacked of realism at her own position and power for fighting her …show more content…
The role of individuals such as Eden and De Gaulle can be recognised to have caused foreign policy failures. De Gaulle for one vetoed Britain application into the EEC, creating foreign policy problems for the country by preventing it to be in with the political and economic inner circle. The French president can be seen to have brought Britain into its place by understanding Britain would be an awkward partner in the EEC. De Gaulle wanted to limit the growing influence the USA was obtaining, especially in Europe therefore by rejecting Britain application, De Gaulle was objecting to American interference that were pushing Britain to get into the EEC. Although Eden proclaimed himself to be an expert in foreign policy he created the biggest foreign policy failure which would in the coming decades always degrade Britain. Believing that Britain was still an Imperial power he is accused of literally forcing the cabinet to agree with him in dealing with the Suez situation which would turn into one of the biggest scandals in British history. Moreover, Britain did not try to join until 1961 after Suez and discontent with US as she still thought herself as a superpower and tried to create EFTA to rival EEC. British government did not see short term nature of Commonwealth benefits and

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