ConservativeHome's Books blog: The British Moment: Fighting Back For A Principled Foreign Policy

The Henry Jackson Society
(Published by the Social Affairs unit)

Review by William Norton

A large turnout - and select attendance - graced the Reform Club last night for the publication party of "The British Moment: The Case for Democratic Geopolitics in the 21st Century" (Social Affairs Unit £13.99). This book has been produced by the Henry Jackson Society - a bi-partisan group of academics originating from the University of Cambridge who believe that foreign policy should take account of the character of nations in framing our dealings with them.

Who on earth was Henry Jackson?
Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson (Democrat, Washington State) was a pro-Vietnam War, strong defence, internationalist and environmentalist US politician who stood for the view that foreign countries cannot be treated equally, but should be judged by their commitment to the values of liberal democracy.

And why exactly does any of that matter to me?
Based on the views of their guiding spirit the Henry Jackson Society oppose both Kissinger-style real politik and the unthinking left-liberal view that foreign policy action is only justified if enacted through the United Nations. This new book marks the start of a campaign for an interventionist post-Iraq foreign policy, and reformed international institutions, rejecting both the view that everything Bush & Blair said in favour of the invasion was true, and the theory that any exercise of power by Western states is inherently wrong. If you believe that liberal democracy is a Good Thing, think that foreign policy ought to be based on liberal democratic principles in favour of freedom rather than crude pragmatism or appeasement based on trade, and take the view that national power should be directed to support these aims, then the Henry Jackson Society is for you. If not - well, you might consider membership of the Liberal Democrat Party to be surprisingly good value at the moment.

OK, who was there and what did they say?
Michael Gove MP (Con, Surrey Heath) denounced the modern trend towards moral relativism and criticised the British embassy in Burma for its failure to support the local democratic movement against the SLORC dictatorship. He also praised the BBC for representing a certain view of British values to the outside world, although the audience expressed some dissent at this theory.

Gisela Stuart MP (Labour, Birmingham Edgbaston), who acquired widespread cross-party admiration for her work against the EU Constitution, voiced her fears that Britain was slipping back into an unjustifiable attitude of "managing decline" typical of the early 1970s when she had first moved here from Germany. It was time, she said, for Britain to recover the ability to discuss issues of right and wrong without descending to political tribalism. This is a genuinely cross-party movement with the backing of serious, thoughtful people.

Whom are we going to bomb next?
That's missing the point: the Henry Jackson Society would say that a robust foreign policy, strong defence establishment, and a determination to use soft power to encourage liberal democracy, make hard power and warfare less likely. A good example here is Darfur. Do you believe liberal democracy is a Good Idea or not? Do you want a world full of hostile opposed blocs or not? Do you believe some things are right and some wrong or not? It's better to go out and confront Them abroad - and that means genuinely sorting out their problems - than wait for Them to come after Us at home - and exact a twisted perverted revenge. "Humanitarian Intervention" means something far wider than bombing - but failing to intervene might mean that we have no other choice (assuming They don't bomb Us first).

I'm still not convinced
So buy the book and make up your own mind. It's what the Henry Jackson Society want you to do, after all.

Comments

The next book down on the Social Affairs Unit "What's Wrong with Liberal Interventionism: The Dangers and Delusions of the Interventionist Doctrine" looks more my cup of tea!

Posted by: Jon Gale | July 14, 2006 at 11:47 AM