The 'special relationship' between the United States and the United Kingdom has existed since the beginning of the 1940s. During the Second World War, a strong alliance emerged that was based on a defense policy against a common enemy and a shared value principle. Throughout the Cold War, the special relationship evolved from a weakening of mutual relations in 1960s and 1970s to a renewed rapprochement in 1980s, mainly because of the shared opinions of the U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After the geopolitical changes in 1989 a debate developed over the future of their special relationship. The question was whether (or in what form) the transatlantic alliance will continue to remain. The 9/11 terrorist attacks upon the United States gave the answer to this question and provided the impetus for renewed mutual British-American relations. Immediately after the attacks, the United Kingdom expressed its full support for the US-led fight against terrorism and followed the United States first into Afghanistan and later into Iraq. However, both President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair were strongly criticized that their war engagement, particularly in relation to the war in Iraq, had been unlawful and was based on false evidence supporting the...

By using a qualitative content analysis and cognitive mapping, the purpose of the thesis is to investigate the decision-making of political leaders in extraordinary situations. The thesis focuses on the case of Tony Blair and his decision to invade Iraq in 2003. The cognitive map of political elites by Robert Axelrod is used to form a cognitive map to illustrate and represent the beliefs of Blair. The research question is what formed Blair’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003? Three time periods are analyzed: before, during and after the war. The results show that intervention should be accepted and no intervention should be rejected. This is with regard to the British utility. The motives for the intervention was Blair’s belief in spreading democratic values and rights. Something which would generate stability and progress for Britain, as well as, for other countries. To end human suffering, WMD trade and terrorism were also among the motives for the intervention. To strengthen the strategic relationship with Russia through intervention was important and the relationship with the U.S. even more. No intervention would increase the ineffective containment and strengthen the regime of Hussein. No intervention would also increase WMD (trade, development and use), terrorism, destruction and people suffering and dying on a mass-scale. Altogether this would negatively impact the British utility.

Britain's attitude towards the European integration has been an uneasy one since its' inception and it thus represents one of the spheres of British politics that has attracted the most attention and that has been one of the most divisive issues of the domestic politics. The British attitude has however responded to the dynamical development of the political integration in Europe. The aim of the thesis is to assess Britain's attitude towards the political integration in Europe and to prove that, despite its dynamical development, the elements of Euroscepticism prevail over the elements of Europeanization. With respect to the aim, the thesis is divided into three chapters. The first one explains the political integration and charts its development and defines the modern concept of Euroscepticism and Europeanization. The second chapter deals with Britain's attitude towards the European integration, its historical background and its development immediately after the Second World War. Substantial part of the chapter is devoted to the analysis of the British attitude towards the milestones of the political integration. The final chapter looks at the stance of the governments of Tony Blair and the current Conservative-led coalition on the political integration and compares them so as to study its development.

Dans cette étude doctorale, nous analysons l'évolution des approches stratégiques de Tony Blair sur le processus de paix entre Israël et les Palestiniens à la suite de la mutation institutionnelle du Premier ministre en Représentant du Quartet. Nous examinons les postulats des théories de socialisation selon lesquels la socialisation dans les institutions internationales peut produire des changements dans la perception du problème et les identités des agents. Afin d'évaluer s'il y avait des changements dans les approches de Tony Blair en qualité de médiateur du Quartet, nous avons étudié sa vision du problème durant les années où il fut Premier ministre britannique. Pour cette raison, notre travail doctoral représente une étude de deux cas qui correspondent aux deux contextes institutionnels. Le premier cas est divisé en deux parties inégales : a) du 11 septembre, 2001 à janvier 2006; b) de janvier 2006 à juin 2007. Cette division est justifiée par notre choix des événements de début 2006 qui auraient pu potentiellement changer la conception de Tony Blair (la victoire de Hamas dans les élections nationales). Le corps empirique de premier cas constitué par les données qualitatives (principalement, 48 discours de Tony Blair, ses mémoires "A Journey") nous révèle une certaine stabilité dans son approche sur le processus ("de haut en bas"). De l'autre côté, les données empiriques relatives aux activités de Tony Blair en qualité de médiateur à partir de juin 2007 nous démontrent un changement stratégique dans son approche ("de bas en haut" accompagné par "de haut en bas"). Nous avons examiné ces changements dans sa position à la lumière de deux distinctions analytiques justifiées soit par l'adaptation au nouvel environnement stratégique (l'approche néoréaliste), soit par la reconsidération de son ancienne expérience et les changements idéationnels (l'approche constructiviste). Cette étude est une contribution sur l'un des conflits les plus complexes de l'histoire de la géopolitique contemporaine. Son objectif est d'analyser l'effet de la socialisation du médiateur dans une structure internationale - à savoir le Quartet - sur sa vision conceptuelle du problème qui a conservé sa stabilité dans le contexte institutionnel précédent.

Le monde académique a récemment démontré un vif intérêt envers les théories de la socialisation. Pourtant, de nombreux penseurs argumentent que le terme de « socialisation », surtout la socialisation des acteurs internationaux au sein des institutions internationales, demeure peu développé.Différentes approches des relations internationales traitent ce concept de façon divergente. Si le néoréalisme utilise la « socialisation » pour décrire l’homogénéisation de la conduite des acteurs internationaux sous les conditions de l’anarchie1, l’institutionnalisme contractuel aborde l’interaction sociale au sein des institutions comme un phénomène n’ayant pas d’impact sur les «identités» et les « intérêts » des acteurs. Par ailleurs, pour les constructivistes, la socialisation constitue un concept pivot. Dans leurs analyses sur la création et la diffusion des normes internationales, les constructivistes portent leur attention sur les «logics of appropriateness”. Ils expliquent que le comportement des acteurs pertinents subit des mutations dues aux changements endogènes dans leurscaractéristiques normatives et leurs identités. Une autre tendance peu développée dans le monde académique est l’application du concept de la socialisation dans le domaine d’étude de la paix, tout particulièrement, la médiation internationale. Il n’y a pas davantage de consensus parmi les spécialistes de la question même si la nature, l’identité et les caractéristiques cognitives sont indispensables pour effectuer une médiation efficace.Alors qu’un groupe d’experts (Oran Young, Jacob Bercovitch) a présenté l’identité des médiateurs en faveur de la paix comme une raison du succès de la médiation, un autre groupe (auquel appartient Marvin Ott) a réduit ce sujet à une position secondaire. La littérature sur la médiation a étudié plusieurs exemples significatifs, tant à propos du contexte que des conditions de l’intervention diplomatique au plus haut niveau. Parmi ces contributions académiques on peut remarquer une étude de cas sur le rôle du Président américain Carter au cours des négociations de Camp-David2. Dans le même esprit, Brian S. Mandell and Brian W. Tomlin ont étudié les activités de médiation d’Henry Kissinger pendant la période 1973-1976, et ont observé comment sa stratégie a modifié les paramètres qui régissaient la dispute entre les Israéliens et les Arabes, et a contribué à l’introduction de nouvelles conditions3de discussion. Pourtant cet exemple et d’autres études analytiques de la participation de hautes personnalités dans la médiation, n’ont pas suffisamment traité de l’impact des institutionsinternationales sur les processus cognitifs des acteurs. Nous croyons que l’exploration des approches stratégiques des médiateurs avant leur intégration au sein des institutions et l’impact de cette intégration sur leur compréhensionantérieure de la question pourrait constituer un profond intérêt académique. C’est pour cette raison que notre analyse doctorale vise à contribuer à remplir le vide mentionné ci-dessus en combinant ces deux perspectives : l’approche sociologique et la résolution des conflits. L’axe de notre étude doctorale est Tony Blair, ancien Premier ministre britannique et actuellement Représentant du Quartet international pour le Moyen Orient. Nous visons à investiguer sur l’attitude cognitive de Tony Blair à l’égard de la paix entre les Palestiniens et Israël dans les deux contextes institutionnels : d’abord, en tant que Premier ministre (de 1997 à 2007), ensuite en tant qu’Envoyé du Quartet (depuis 2007 jusqu’à maintenant).En termes généraux, nous tenterons de présenter un aperçu de la compréhension conceptuelle de Tony Blair sur des causes du conflit, sa perception des intentions et des capacités des partis concernés, ainsi que sa vision des stratégies les plus efficaces pour résoudre ce conflit. Nous suggerons que le choix de cette personnalité comme unité de notre analyse, parce qu’il a été Premier ministre britannique et qu’il est actuellement Représentant du Quartet est un choix assez pertinent par rapport aux argumentations des constructivistes. Premièrement, selon Cederman, les structures sociales et les caractéristiques des agents sont mutuellement constitutives4. De cela vient la proposition que la stabilité et leschangements dans le système cognitif et la position politique d’un Premier ministre de la Grande-Bretagne (Tony Blair ou d’autres) va produire certains effets sur le comportement gouvernemental. Deuxièmement, ce serait une tâche analytiquement intéressante de montrer comment des interactions internationales peuvent influencer les perceptions du conflit et les prescriptions politiques d’un ancien leader d’une puissance, actuellement envoyé pour la paix. En faisant appel à la rationalité pour notre étude mentionnée ci-dessus, nous pouvons formuler la question de cette recherche de la façon suivante : Comment la conception stratégique de Tony Blair évolue-t-elle avec le changement du contexte institutionnel? Comme il a été explicitement noté, nous observons dans notre étude les processus cognitifs de Tony Blair dans deux contextes institutionnels différents. Pour cela, nous allons diviser le travail en deux parties constitutives, ou deux études de cas. Dans la première étude de cas, nous allons traiter de l’approche stratégie de Tony Blair envers le processus de paix en qualité de Premier ministre. Dans la seconde étude, nous explorerons la stabilité ou le changement de ses conceptions stratégiques en tant que Représentant international. La première étude est divisée en deux chapitres inégaux. Le chapitre I est consacré aux processus cognitifs du Premier ministre du 11 septembre 2001 à janvier 2006. Le chapitre II est concerné par sa dynamique cognitive de janvier 2006 jusqu’à son départ du pouvoir en juin 2007. Cette division inégale est justifiée par notre choix de présenter les événements de début 2006 qui auraient pu potentiellement changer la conception de Tony Blair. En effet, en 2006, le groupe palestinien Hamas a remporté la victoire dans les élections nationales. Un responsable du gouvernement de Blair l’a rappelé: « Personne n’attendait ce résultat.L’élection avait été planifiée comme moyen de neutraliser le Hamas, mais tout d’un coup cela est survenu […] de manière surprenante ». Dans ce contexte, et du point de vue analytique la question principale est de voir comment le Premier ministre Tony Blair a fait face à la situation évoquée. Celle-ci pouvait, soit engendrer des changements dans le contenu de ses convictions sur les approches stratégiques les plus optimales envers le conflit, soit il pouvait interpréter la nouvelle situation de telle façon que sa connaissance et ses idées soient conservées intactes. Comme la victoire du Hamas aux élections de 2006 était passible de produire des changements relatifs à la stabilité du processus de paix, nous avons décidé de traiter cette question dans un chapitre séparé, bien que cette période (2006-2007) soit plus courte que lapériode précedente. / Recently there has been increasing interest in the socialization theory in the academic world. Yet, many scholars claim that the socialization within international institutions remains underdeveloped. Different international relations approaches treat this concept in a different way. Neorealism uses socialization to describe the homogenization of self-help balancing behavior among security-seeking states interacting under conditions of anarchy. Contractual institutionalism generally does not focus on socialization pro- cesses in international relations per se. The notion that social interaction can change preferences and interests or fundamental security philosophies and ideologies is not a central concern. For thisperspective social interaction inside institutions is assumed to have little or no effect on the "identities" or "interests" of actors, or at least institutionalists are divided as to whether there are any effects. The quality or quantity of prior social interaction among players should be irrelevant to the calculus of whether or not to defect. For social constructivists, socialization is a central concept. According to Onuf, “social relations make or construct people-ourselves-into the kinds of beings we are”. In their accounts of the creation and diffusion of international norms constructivists mostly focus onthe "logics of appropriateness" – pro-norm behavior that is so deeply internalized as to be unquestioned, taken for granted. This naturally raises questions about which norms are internalized by agents, how and to what degree. Kratochwil and Ruggie imply that by treating institutions as social institutions "around which actor expectations converge" the interestingquestion becomes the processes by which this intersubjective convergence takes place. On the one hand, most mainstream international relations theorists contend that there are two main ways in which involvement in international institutions changes state behavior in more cooperative directions. The first is through material rewards and punishments: in pursuit of a (mostly) constant set of interests or preferences a state responds to positive and negative sanctions providedexogenously by the institution (rules, membership requirements, etc.) or by certain actors within the institution. The second is through changes in the domestic distributions of power among social groups pursuing (mostly) a constant set of interests or preferences such that different distributions lead to different aggregated state preferences6.On the other hand, constructivists hold that the behavior of relevant actors changes due to endogenous change in their normative characteristics and identities. In other words, change in the behavior of the participants in a social interaction may have little to do with exogenous constraints on the individual and the group and a lot to do with socialization7.The constructivist approach to international institutions proposes the following definition of the concept of socialization: “It is defined as a process of inducting actors into the norms and rules of a given community. Its outcome is sustained compliance based on the internalization of these new norms. In adopting community rules, socialization implies that anagent switches from following a logic of consequences to a logic of appropriateness; this adoption is sustained over time and is quite independent from a particular structure of material incentives or sanctions”. Unlike mainstream neorealist perspectives, sociological approaches would treat institutions as ‘environments’ of social interaction, rather than as ‘boxes’ of material constraints. This means the research focus shifts to the non-material (e.g. psychological, affective, ideological) effects on pro-group behavior that interaction with other human agents can generate9.Thus one of the most frequent research questions posed by them are “When do international institutions create senses of community and belonging? If and when this happens, what does it mean for individual and state allegiances, interests, and identities? What processes underlie such transformative dynamics? For many scholars applying sociological approaches to the exploration of institutions the unit of analysis is the individual who interacts with the social environments inside international institutions. This differs from many of the sociologically oriented studies to date. For the most part, when IR specialists or sociological institutionalists have look for the effects of social interaction at the international level the unit of analysis has tended to be the state (or state elites in a fairly aggregated way). Johnston believes that this focus on the international level where the unit of analysis is the state presents obvious problems when examining particular institutions as social environments since states as unitary actors don't participate in institutions; rather, state agents do, e.g. diplomats, decisionmakers, analysts, policy specialists, non-governmental agents of state principals. In reference specifically to constructivism, Cederman point out that its ontology can best be captured by the notion of complex adaptive systems whereby social structures and agent characteristics are mutually constitutive, or locked in tight feedback loops, where smallperturbations in the characteristics of agents interacting with each other can have large, nonlinear effects on social structures13. This perceptive posits that it is relevant to explore how individual agents or small groups are socialized, because their impact on larger properties of the social environment can be significant. Another underdeveloped trend in academic scholarship is application of socialization approaches to the domain of peace studies and, in particular, international mediation. Neither is there consensus about whether identity, nature and cognitive characteristics of a mediator are indispensable for effective mediation. If on the one hand, certain scholars have addressed the identity of a mediator as predictors of success (for example, Oran Young, Jacob Bercovitch). On the other hand, others would reduce it to a secondary position (for example, Marvin Ott) arguing that they are essentially irrelevant compared to other contextualvariables. Mediation scholarship has undertaken a number of essential case studies about the context and condition of high-level third party involvement. For example, among these contributions are case-studies on President Carter’s role in Camp David negotiations. Brian S. Mandell and Brian W. Tomlin have also carried on a case study of the mediation activities of Henry Kissinger in the Middle East during the period 1973-1976 to verify how his strategy altered the parameters of the dispute and brought about conditions necessary for the creation of new norms. Yet these and other analyses of high-level actors taking part in mediation activities have not sufficiently treated the impact of international institutions on cognitive processes of mediators. We suggest that exploration of belief systems of high-level mediators prior to the entry into international institutions and the impact of the latter on their understanding of the issue would be of essential academic interest. For this reason, our doctoral analysis seeks to contribute to filling the above-mentionedgaps by combining these two perspectives: sociological and conflict resolution. The focus of our work is Tony Blair in the context of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. We seek to investigate Tony Blair’s cognitive attitude towards the Middle East peace process within two institutional contexts: first, as British Prime Minister (1997-2007) and,subsequently, as the Middle East Quartet’s Envoy (2007 until nowadays). In general terms, we intend to undertake insight into Tony Blair’s conceptual understanding of the causes of the conflict, his perception about the intentions and capabilities of the parties, as well his strategic beliefs about the most optimal approaches to the peaceful settlement. We assume that the choice of Tony Blair as the unit of analysis both in the role of the British Prime Minister and now the Quartet Representative is quite relevant to the argumentative position of constructivists. First of all, based on Cederman’s above-mentioned point that social structures and agent characteristics are mutually constitutive, changes and stability of the belief system and policy position of the British Prime Minister will produce effects on the governmental behaviour. Second, it would be analytically interesting to trace whether and how international interactions affect the former leader and currently peace envoy’s perceptions of the issue and policy prescriptions. Drawing on the above-mentioned rationale for our analytic study we formulate our research question in the following way: How is Tony Blair’s strategic conception of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process evolving with the change of his institutional context? As was explicitly noted, in our research we observe Tony Blair’s cognitive processes in two institutional contexts. For this purpose, we divide our work into two constitutive parts, or two case studies. In the first case study we elaborate on Tony Blair’s strategic approach to thepeace process between Israel and the Palestinians as British Prime Minister. In the second, we will explore his strategic conceptions as Quartet Representative. The first case-study is in its turn divided into two chapters. Chapter I deals with Prime Minister Tony Blair’s thinking process from September 11, 2001 to January 2006. Chapter II is concerned with his cognitive dynamics from January 2006 until his departure from Downing Street in June 2007. This specific division of Case-study I into two chronologically unequal chapters is justified by our analytic interest to trace cognitive processes under those events that are much likely to cause changes. Precisely, in January 2006 a Palestinian group – Hamas – gainedvictory at national elections. An official in the Blair government recalled: “No one had expected the result. The election had been intended as a way of neutralising Hamas and for it to suddenly turn around and bite us in that way was stonishing”16.From the analytic point of view the basic question is how Prime Minister Tony Blair has coped with this situation. The new situation may either induce changes in the content of his beliefs about optimal strategic approaches to the conflict. Or it may be interpreted in such a manner that his basic assumptions and cognition will be conserved unchanged. Since thisevent is likely to induce either change or stability in his conceptual approaches to the peace process, we decided to treat it in a separate chapter, even though this period is chronologically shorter than the previous chapter.

Diploma thesis 'Special relationship' between the United Kingdom and the United States and renascence of their relationship after September 11, 2001, deals with the special Anglo-American relationship in past and present. Both countries share common history, common language and threads of cultural heritage. The United States maintains close economic and military relationship with the UK. US military and intelligence cooperation in its current form dates back to the World War II and it was rooted in the doctrine of anti-Soviet Containment. US-UK 'special relationship' was widely seen as likely to expire with the end of the Cold War, but was revived following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States. Particular emphasis in explaining the renascence of the 'special relationship' in the world changed by terror is placed on the role of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his relationship to President George W. Bush.

This doctoral thesis explores the ideational framework of British foreign and European policy in the era of New Labour governments (1997-2010). Drawing from social constructivism and the "linguistic turn" in social sciences, and using discourse analysis as its primary tool, it analyses a set of major foreign and European policy speeches by prime ministers and foreign secretaries, and Labour Party general election manifestos, to reconstruct the ideational structure in which empirical British foreign policy was embedded. It identifies conceptual ideas about the nature and rules governing the international order, distribution of power in the international system, hierarchy of issues in contemporary international agenda, international identity and role of the United Kingdom, its key international relationships, its power resources, and interests and values shaping British foreign policy, as held by the leading government figures of the era. Established changes and transformations of these governing ideas are contextualised in the empirical development in the international arena. While confirming the pro-stability and self-reproduction bias of ideational structures, via their constitution of agency and organization of the actors' discursive practices, the thesis identifies six events which sparked...

[pt] O objetivo desta dissertação de Mestrado é analisar o processo de reformulação da identidade coletiva do Reino Unido no governo de Tony Blair, em função de sua participação na Política Européia de Segurança e Defesa da União Européia, com base em conceitos desenvolvidos pela teoria construtivista de Relações Internacionais. As mudanças ocorridas no esquema de segurança e defesa europeu receberam um grande ímpeto por parte do Reino Unido, que, tradicionalmente, tem se caracterizado por uma política reticiente no que diz respeito a cooperação em questões de segurança e defesa. Argumenta-se que o novo enfoque da política britânica com relação à Política Européia de Segurança e Defesa, a partir de 1998, insere-se num processo de redefinição da identidade coletiva com relação a União Européia, apos o Reino Unido ter sido relegado ao segundo plano no que se refere a questões de uniao política européia. / [en] The aim of this dissertation is to analize the process of identity reformulation of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair through its participation in the European Security and Defence Policy of the European Union. This analysis is based on constructivism litterature. The changes that had taken place in the european security and defence field were, to a certain degree, the result of a british attitude, which has traditionally been characterized as sceptical in these areas. The argument is that this new british approch is part of a deeper process of colletive identity reformulation.

Depuis des décennies. The Economist est considéré comme une référence incontournable pour tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'actualité politique et économique internationale. The Economist apparaît comme un journal d'opinion qui vise à renforcer l'influence d'une élite possédant un pouvoir économique et culturel dans le monde. L'hebdomadaire vante souvent son objectivité, son indépendance ainsi que sa vocation internationale ; cependant, le lecteur averti perçoit The Economist comme un magazine qui n'est pas si différent des autres dans la mesure où il cherche à défendre sa cause, sa doctrine et à faire valoir sa propagande. Cette thèse tente d'analyser l'image d'une personnalité politique, le Premier ministre britannique, Tony Blair, et de mettre en relief sa politique européenne et sa relation anglo-américaine à travers unelecture critique de The Economist de mai 1997 à mai 2005. Cette étude, qui se base sur l'approche de l'analyse critique du discours, envisage de souligner l'absence de partialité de The Economist, qui défend des valeurs néolibérales et tente ainsi de répondre aux attentes des lecteurs et de défendre sa vision du monde

Blair sent British troops to join U.S. forces in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 at great political cost to himself. What motivated him to take this step? Sources for this work include: autobiographies and biographies of individuals close to Blair; journal and newspaper articles and monographs on this topic; Prime Minister's speeches and press conferences. Part one is comprised of five chapters including the Introduction; Blair's years at school; Blair's early political career; and From Parliament to Prime Minister. Part two includes four chapters that analyze motivating factors such as, Anglo-American Relations; Blair's personality, faith, and his relationship with Gordon Brown; and finally, Blair's perception of Britain's Manifest Destiny. All of these factors played a role in Blair's decision.