Rethinking Britain's Role in the World for a New Decade: The Limits of Discursive Therapy and the Promise of Field Theory

British Journal of Politics and International Relations

Volumn 13, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 145-164

  Mccourt, David M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Britain; Discursive therapy; Field theory; Foreign policy

Indexed keywords

FOREIGN POLICY; GEOPOLITICS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS;

UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 79953734480     PISSN: 13691481     EISSN: 1467856X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-856X.2010.00429.x     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. Acheson, D. (1963) 'Our Atlantic alliance: The political and economic strands', Vital Speeches, 29:6, 163-164.
2. Aggestam, L. (1999) 'Role conceptions and the politics of identity in foreign policy', Working Paper (Oslo: ARENA).
3. Ball, G. W. (1982) The Past has Another Pattern (London: W. W. Norton and Company).
4. Barder, B. (2001) 'Britain: Still looking for that role?', The Political Quarterly, 72:3, 366-374.
5. Barnett, M. (1993) 'Institutions, roles, and disorder: The case of the Arab states system', International Studies Quarterly, 37:3, 271-296.
6. Barnett, C. (2001) The Verdict of Peace: Britain between Her Yesterday and the Future (London: Macmillan).
7. Bartlett, W. (2000) '"Simply the right thing to do": Labour goes to war', in R. Little and M. Wickham-Jones (eds), New Labour's Foreign Policy: A New Moral Crusade? (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 131-146.
8. Bevir, M. (2005) New Labour: A Critique (London: Routledge).
9. Bevir, M. and Rhodes, R. (2003) Interpreting British Governance (London: Routledge).
10. Blair, T. (1997) 'The principles of modern British foreign policy', Speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, 10 November.
11. Bourdieu, P. (1988) Homo Academicus (Cambridge: Polity).
12. Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice (Cambridge: Polity).
13. Bourdieu, P. (1996) State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power (Cambridge: Polity).
14. Bourdieu, P. and Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992) An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).
15. Brinkley, D. (1990) 'Dean Acheson and the "special relationship": The West Point speech of December 1962', The Historical Journal, 33:3, 599-608.
16. Bulley, D. (2009) 'Textualising British politics: Deconstructing the subject of British foreign policy', British Politics, 4:3, 291-314.
17. Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Politics and the Subversion of Identity (London: Routledge).
18. Campbell, D. (1992) Writing Security (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
19. Coates, D. and Krieger, J. (2004) Blair's War (Cambridge: Polity).
20. Cook, R. (2003) The Point of Departure (London: Simon & Schuster).
21. Curtis, M. (2003) Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World (London: Vintage).
22. Curtis, M. (2004a) Unpeople: Britain's Secret Human Rights Abuses (London: Vintage).
23. Curtis, M. (2004b) 'Britain's real foreign policy and the failure of British academia', International Relations, 18:3, 275-287.
24. Daddow, O. (2009) '"Tony's war"? Blair, Kosovo, and the interventionist impulse in British foreign policy', International Affairs, 85:3, 547-560.
25. Daddow, O. and Broad, M. (2010) 'Half-remembered quotes from mainly forgotten speeches: The limits of British foreign policy discourse', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 12:2, 205-222.
26. Diamond, P. (2008) Shifting Alliances: Europe, America and the Future of Britain's Global Strategy (London: Politico's).
27. Dickie, J. (2004) The New Mandarins: How British Foreign Policy Works (London: I. B. Tauris).
28. Dumbrell, J. (2001) A Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations in the Cold War and After (Houndmills: Macmillan).
29. Dunne, T. (2004) 'When the shooting starts: Atlanticism in British security strategy', International Affairs, 80:5, 893-909.
30. Fierke, K. M. (1998) Changing Games, Changing Strategies: Critical Investigations in Security (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
31. Freedman, L. (2005) The Official History of the Falklands Campaign (2 vols) (London: Routledge).
32. Gamble, A. (2003) Between Europe and America: The Future of British Politics (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan).
33. Gaskarth, J. (2006) 'Discourses and ethics: The social construction of British foreign policy', Foreign Policy Analysis, 2:4, 325-341.
34. George, S. (1998) An Awkward Partner: Britain in the European Community (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
35. Hill, C. (1979) 'Britain's elusive role in world politics', British Journal of International Studies, 5:3, 248-259.
36. Holland, R. (1991) The Pursuit of Greatness: Britain and the World Role, 1900-1970 (London: Fontana).
37. Holsti, K. (1970) 'National role conceptions in the study of foreign policy', International Studies Quarterly, 14:3, 233-309.
38. Jackson, P. (2008) 'Pierre Bourdieu, the "cultural turn" and the practice of international history', Review of International Studies, 34:1, 155-181.
39. Joas, H. (1993) Pragmatism and Social Theory (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press).
40. Kaiser, W. (1999) Using Europe, Abusing the Europeans: Britain and European Integration, 1945-63 (Houndmills: Macmillan).
41. Kampfner, J. (2004) Blair's Wars (London: Free Press).
42. Kennedy, P. (1980) The Realities behind Diplomacy (London: Fontana).
43. Kratochwil, F. (1978) International Order and Foreign Policy (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
44. Laffey, M. (2000) 'Locating identity: Performativity, foreign policy, and state action', Review of International Studies, 26:3, 429-444.
45. Marsh, D. (2008) 'Understanding British government: Analysing competing models', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 10:2, 251-268.
46. Martin, J. L. (2003) 'What is field theory?', American Journal of Sociology, 109:1, 1-49.
47. McAnulla, S. (2007) 'New Labour, old epistemology? Reflections on political science, new institutionalism and the Blair government', Parliamentary Affairs, 60:2, 313-331.
48. MccGwire, M. (2006) 'Comfort blanket or weapon of war: What is Trident for?', International Affairs, 82:4, 639-650.
49. McCourt, D. (2009) 'What was Britain's "East of Suez role"? Reassessing the withdrawal, 1964-1968', Diplomacy and Statecraft, 20:3, 453-472.
50. McNay, J. T. (2001) Acheson and Empire: The British Accent in American Foreign Policy (Columbia, MD: The University of Missouri Press).
51. Mearsheimer, J. (199495) 'The false promise of international institutions', International Security, 19:3, 5-49.
52. Miliband, D. (2008) 'Stand by for our diplomatic surge', Sunday Times, 6 January available at, last accesses 23 November 2010.
53. Milward, A. (2002) The UK and the European Community: Vol 1. The Rise and Fall of a National Strategy, 1945-63 (London: Frank Cass).
54. Morgan, K. (1990) The People's Peace: British History, 1945-1989 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
55. Müller, P. (2002) 'Imag[in]ing globalization: Therapy for policy makers', in D. A. Fuchs and F. Kratochwil (eds), Transformative Change and Global Order (London: Transaction), pp. 45-62.
56. Natanson, M. (1970) The Journeying Self: A Study in Philosophy and Social Role (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley).
57. O'Hara, G. and Parr, H. (2006) The Wilson Governments, 1964-70 Reconsidered (London: Routledge).
58. Parmar, I. (2004) Think Tanks and Power in Foreign Policy (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
59. Patten, C. (2006) Not Quite the Diplomat (London: Penguin).
60. Pouliot, V. (2010) International Security in Practice: The Politics of NATO-Russia Diplomacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
61. Reynolds, D. (1990) Britannia Overruled (London: Longman).
62. Riddell, P. (2003) Hug Them Close: Blair, Clinton, Bush and the 'Special Relationship' (London: Politico's).
63. Rorty, R. (1980) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
64. Rosenau, J. (1990) Turbulence in World Politics: A Theory of Continuity and Change (New York: Harvester).
65. Sanders, D. (1990) Losing an Empire, Finding a Role: British Foreign Policy Since 1945 (Houndmills: Macmillan).
66. Sharp, P. (1997) Thatcher's Diplomacy: The Revival of British Foreign Policy (Houndmills: Macmillan).
67. Shlaim, A. (1975) 'Britain's quest for a world role', International Relations, 5:1, 835-865.
68. Wallace, W. (2005) 'The collapse of British foreign policy', International Affairs, 82:1, 53-68.
69. Waltz, K. (1979) Theory of International Politics (New York: Random House).
70. Weber, C. (1998) 'Performative states', Millennium, 27:1, 77-95.
71. Wendt, A. (1992) 'Anarchy is what states make of it', International Organization, 46:2, 391-425.
72. Winand, P. (1993) Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the United States of Europe (New York: St Martin's Press).
73. Winch, P. (1990) The Idea of Social Science and Its Relation to Philosophy (London: Routledge).
74. Wittgenstein, L. (1953) Philosophical Investigations (Oxford: Blackwell).