This thesis is an examination of the career of Sir Francis Bertie during the period between his appointment as British ambassador to France in January 1905 and the outbreak of the first world war. As such it is concerned with Bertie's role in the development of Anglo-French relations in the decade before 1914. It is, however, in no sense a comprehensive study of the entente cordiale, and matters such as the con-versations between the British and French military and naval authorities are dealt with only in so far as they were of interest to Bertie and his colleagues. Bertie had by the time of his appointment to Paris already been engaged in the administration and conduct of foreign policy for more than thirty years. His experience had led him to conclude that Germany had expansionist ambitions which constituted a major threat to the security of the British empire. While the Anglo-Japanese alliance and Japan's victories in the Far East placed severe restraints upon Russia, the convention concluded by Lansdowne and Delcasse in April 1904 seemed to make a conflict between Britain and France unlikely. With this in mind Bertie strove to maintain and strengthen the entente. During the two Moroccan crises he encouraged first Lansdowne and then Grey to give their full support to France in resisting German pretensions. On other occasions he urged Grey to avoid any one-sided bargains with Germany, and to do nothing that might cause the French to suspect Britain's intentions. Anglo-French relations were not, however, free from friction in these years, and the efforts in which Bertie was involved to extend co-operation between the two powers beyond the strictly political sphere met with little success. Moreover, Bertie had little sympathy for France's ally, Russia, whose diplomacy in the Balkans he came to regard as a menace to the peace of Europe.

This dissertation shows that and explains why two European Union (EU) Member States, namely France and the United Kingdom (UK), differ in the degree of internalisation of political conditionality. The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part assesses the degree of internalisation of political conditionality. Following a three-fold measurement framework, the thesis examines French and British policies, legal documents and behaviour. The analysis of behaviour concentrates on four cases of EU aid sanctions: Madagascar 2009, Mozambique 2009, Nicaragua 2008 and Zimbabwe 2002. France and the UK differ significantly. France has not officially endorsed political conditionality, generally does not insert human rights clauses in its developing agreements, and is recurrently among the donors which take a soft stance in response to recipient governments’ abuses. The UK has adopted a fully-fledged policy requiring partner governments to respect human rights and basic democratic principles, has consistently included human rights clauses in its development agreements and often belongs to the group of hardliners in favour of the application of aid sanctions. The second part of the dissertation explains these differences. Given the complexities of aid decision-making, the thesis adopts an “analytic eclectic” approach and tests four alternative hypotheses derived from realism, international constructivism, liberalism and sociological institutionalism. The examination of the cases studies and more than 100 interviews with diplomats, aid officials and representatives from nongovernmental organisations show that the higher accountability of aid decisionmakers and social pressure by like-minded donors (in particular Nordic countries) have played the most significant role in generating deeper internalisation of political conditionality by the UK. While organisational cultures cannot explain the extent of internalisation of political conditionality, their differences are helpful to understand the characteristics of the cases when political conditionality is applied more reluctantly. Evidence is not sufficient to confirm the hypotheses based on material interests, Commonwealth influence and aid modalities.

The long history of Anglo-French relations has often been acrimonious. After the German defeat of France in June 1940 the right to represent the French nation was contested by Philippe Pétain’s Vichy government and Charles de Gualle’s London-based Free French resistance movement. This thesis will examine the highly complex relationship between Britain and these two competing sources of Frenchness between 1940 and 1945. It will do so through a series of empire-themed “crisis points,” which contributed to a heightened state of Anglo-French tension affecting all three actors. This study uses rhetoric as a means to link decision makers or statesman to the public sphere. It argues that policy makers, whether in the British War Cabinet, de Gaulle’s headquarters at Carlton Gardens, or Pétain’s ministries at Vichy anticipated how their policies were likely to be received by a group or groups of individuals. These were individuals who contributed towards what decision makers believed to be public opinion. Perceptions of public opinion, in other words, played a vital role in policy creation. In turn, the desire to get one or more sectors of the public “on board” with a particular policy or wartime operation gave rhetoric a place of primary importance. Specifically, we will see how policy makers carefully constructed and revised public statements and speeches. When these external communications and explanations are placed side by side with internal official discussions, it will become evident that rhetoric is itself a vital strategic tool. The grammatical constructions and vocabulary that made up official statements and mass media responses shed light on broader wartime themes including victory and defeat, allies and enemies, power, sovereignty, neutrality and morality. Ultimately, acknowledging that rhetoric is an inherent part of policy making allows us to better understand the links between the governing bodies of a nation and those who have a stake in its policies. At the same time, it allows us to see how less tangible normative factors continue to impact this process.