Special Relationship

For other uses, see Special Relationship (disambiguation).
See also: United Kingdom–United States relations

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan. Their strong bond epitomised UK–US relations in the late 20th century.

The Special Relationship is a term that is often used to describe the political, social, diplomatic, cultural, economic, legal, environmental, religious, military and historic relations between the United Kingdom and the United States or its political leaders. The term first came into popular usage after it was used in a 1946 speech by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Both nations have been close allies during many conflicts in the 20th and the 21st centuries, including World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Gulf War and the war on terror.

Although both governments also have close relationships with many other nations, the level of cooperation between the UK and the US in trade and commerce, military planning, execution of military operations, nuclear weapons technology, and intelligence sharing has been described as "unparallelled" among major world powers.[1] The close relationships between British and American heads of government such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as well as between Tony Blair and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have been noted.[2] At the diplomatic level, characteristics include recurring public representations of the relationship as "special", frequent and high-profile political visits and extensive information exchange at the diplomatic working level.[3]

Some critics deny the existence of a "special relationship" and call it a myth.[4][5] During the 1956 Suez Crisis, US President Dwight Eisenhower threatened to bankrupt the pound sterling due to Britain's invasion of Egypt. Thatcher privately opposed the 1983 US invasion of Grenada, and Reagan unsuccessfully initially pressured against the 1982 Falklands War.[2][6] Former US President Barack Obama considered German Chancellor Angela Merkel to be his "closest international partner" and accused British Prime Minister David Cameron of being "distracted by a range of other things" during the 2011 military intervention in Libya.[2][7]

There is also recognition that the imagery and language associated with the "special relationship" has been proliferated by the United States to describe other international relationships.[8] For example, the US Department of State argues that "France is America's oldest friend and ally",[9] similarly, the relationship between the United States and Canada has also been described as "special".[10] Additionally, the US-Israel relationship has commonly been considered "special", by academics and politicians, since 1967. [11][12][13]

Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump as US president, the British government under Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson[14] sought to establish "a new special relationship" with the Trump administration. Trump claimed that his relationship with Theresa May was "the highest level of special",[15] and Trump praised Johnson as prime minister and celebrated comparisons that had been made between Johnson and himself, endorsing him during the 2019 election and referring to him as "Britain Trump".

  1. ^ James, Wither (March 2006). "An Endangered Partnership: The Anglo-American Defence Relationship in the Early Twenty-first Century". European Security. 15 (1): 47–65. doi:10.1080/09662830600776694. ISSN 0966-2839. S2CID 154879821.
  2. ^ a b c Hewitt, Gavin (20 April 2016). "Strains on a special relationship". Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Special Relationships in World Politics: Inter-state Friendship and Diplomacy after the Second World War, 1st Edition (Hardback) - Routledge". Routledge.com. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  4. ^ "The UK and US: The myth of the special relationship". aljazeera.com.
  5. ^ John Baylis, "The 'special Relationship' A Diverting British Myth?," in Cyril Buffet, Beatrice Heuser (eds.), Haunted by History: Myths in International Relations, ch. 10, Berghahn Books, 1998, ISBN 9781571819406
  6. ^ Burns, John F. (28 December 2012). "Falklands War Caused Rare Friction for Thatcher and Reagan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  7. ^ Allen, Nick (14 November 2016). "Barack Obama delivers parting snub to special relationship with Britain by naming Angela Merkel his 'closest partner'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  8. ^ The Rest Is Politics (19 September 2024). Does America really care about the ‘special relationship’? | Question Time. Retrieved 30 September 2024 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ "The United States and France: Allies, Partners, and Friends". United States Department of State. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  10. ^ Leach, Richard H. (1977). "Canada and the United States: A Special Relationship". Current History. 72 (426): 145–180. ISSN 0011-3530.
  11. ^ Bar-Siman-Tov, Yaacov (1998). "The United States and Israel since 1948: A "Special Relationship"?". Diplomatic History. 22 (2): 231–262. ISSN 0145-2096.
  12. ^ "How Special Is the U.S.-Israel Relationship?". Middle East Forum. 1 June 1997. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
  13. ^ Mearsheimer, John J.; Walt, Stephen M. (18 February 2009). "Is It Love or The Lobby? Explaining America's Special Relationship with Israel". Security Studies. 18 (1): 58–78. doi:10.1080/09636410802678031. ISSN 0963-6412.
  14. ^ "Boris and Donald: A very special relationship". POLITICO.
  15. ^ Rigby, Beth (15 July 2018). "Backpedalling Donald Trump tries to warm up a cooling special relationship". Sky News. Retrieved 15 July 2018.