The Labour Party, War and International Relations, 1945-2006 [Paperback]

Questions of war were not central to the founding of the Labour Party, yet questions of war  specifically, under what circumstances the party would support the dispatch of British military forces to fight abroad  have divided and damaged the party throughout its history more deeply than any other single issue.

The Labour Party, War and International Relations, 1945-2006opens by identifying and examining the factors that have influenced the partys thinking about war, before considering the post-1945 Cold War context and analyzing a range of cases:

• the Korean War
• the partys response to the 1956 Suez crisis
• the Wilson governments approach to the Vietnam War
• Labours response to the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands
• the crisis over the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, culminating in the 1991 war
• the wars of the 1990s over Bosnia and Kosovo
• the case for war in Iraq developed by the Blair government during 2002-03.

This is a timely book that both illuminates approaches to past wars and helps us understand the basis of current military commitments. As such it will be of great interest to students across courses in politics, history, and war studies.

 

1. The Labour Party and the Question of War  2. Taking Sides in the Cold War  3. The Labour Party and War in the 1950s: Korea and Suez  4. Harold Wilson, the Labour Party and the Vietnam War  5. Labours Falklands War  6. The Gulf War, 1990-91  7. The Rise of Humanitarian Military Intervention in the 1990s: Bosnia and Kosovo  8. New Labour Goes to War (Again): Iraq 2002-03.  Conclusion

'...a fine, clear and (so far as Blair is concerned) a damming book.'
Bernard Porter, Lobster Magazine