Global Britons: Understanding the unique British communities in Brussels and Washington DC
This report focuses on two unusual but strategically important British communities overseas.
Programme
Finding Britain’s role in a changing world
UK foreign policy is going through a period of extreme volatility, with the country’s international position more uncertain than at any time since the end of the Second World War. There is a national debate over Britain’s global role, looking at whether and how the UK can move from a period of intense introspection to reengage constructively on the world stage and within regional and international institutions. This programme will examine the challenges posed by both ‘Brexit’ and an increasingly volatile world, looking at what they mean for the UK now and for its future. Central to the FPC’s work in this area will be exploring the extent to which the UK can be a ‘force for good’ in the world and how its relations to international institutions and other nations develop.
Publications in this programme
Partnerships for the future of UK Foreign Policy
Part of the ‘Finding Britain’s role in a changing world’ publication series.
Projecting the UK’s values abroad
Part of the ‘Finding Britain’s role in a changing world’ publication series.
Protecting the UK’s ability to defend its values
Part of the ‘Finding Britain’s role in a changing world’ publication series.
The principles for Global Britain
Part of the 'Finding Britain's role in a changing world' publication series.
Finding Britain’s role in a changing world
Building a values-based foreign policy
Articles relating to this programme
Being the values you want to see in the world? Global Britain, domestic trajectories and the Integrated Review
The publication of the Integrated Review (IR) in March 2021 marked the most detailed account yet of the Government’s vision of a post-Brexit ‘Global’ Britain. A vision of foreign policy…
Crackdowns on investigative journalism in Russia versus the lack of crackdown on corruption in the UK
While Russia is cracking down on investigative journalists exposing corruption amongst its political elites, the UK’s political elites are failing to do enough to crack down on corruption exposed by…
With growing public calls for a Council of Europe recommendation on SLAPP, is now the time for the UK to act on this issue or risk falling behind?
This week Unsafe for Scrutiny’s Project Director, Susan Coughtrie, spoke with Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia at ARTICLE 19, Flutura Kusari, Legal Advisor at the European Centre…
Is the US pulling ahead in the global fight against corruption and what does this mean for investigative journalists?
This week Unsafe for Scrutiny’s Project Director, Susan Coughtrie, spoke with Casey Michel, a US based investigative journalist, and author of the upcoming book American Kleptocracy, to get his insights…
A response to the Integrated Review
There is a lot to digest in the much awaited publication of the Prime Minister’s Integrated Review (IR) of UK international policy. It is a weighty enough document of over…
Building on the Integrated Review
The publication of the long awaited Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, entitled ‘Global Britain in a competitive age’, should finally help give greater clarity to the…
The UK’s new corruption sanctions regime – Can it help end the UK’s role as a global money laundering centre and what role will journalists play?
This spring, the UK’s Foreign Secretary is set to announce a new stand-alone corruption sanctions regime which will give the Government power to impose visa bans and asset freezes on…
Unsafe for Scrutiny: Russian anti-corruption protests, ‘historic’ US anti-money laundering legislation, ‘Chumocracy’ and threats to freedom of information in the UK
As part of our Unsafe for Scrutiny project, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) is starting a new series of fortnightly articles focused on topics at the intersection of anti-corruption and…
Saving the Red-eye to Ibiza: How vaccine corridors can open up travel again
On January 31st 2021, Britain marked one full year of its first-known case of COVID-19. Since then, both the economy and key industries, including aviation have been decimated. From…
Parliament should have a meaningful vote on the EU trade deal. But it doesn’t
It is often said Brexit has exposed deep problems in British democracy. But while this opinion is widely held, there is little agreement on the nature of these deficiencies. Brexit…
Partnerships for the future of UK Foreign Policy: Executive Summary
After a prolonged period of introspection and tensions with longstanding partners, this publication shows the many different ways in which a Global Britain can reinvigorate its relationships with allies, alliances…
Partnerships for the future of UK Foreign Policy: Introduction
Alliances and partnerships have been at the heart of the UK’s foreign policy throughout its history and they will be central its future. While at different points in history the…
After Brexit: Recasting a UK-EU dialogue on foreign policy
2020 will be remembered for the Coronavirus pandemic, the end of Donald Trump’s US Presidency, and the year in which Britain finally left the EU. It was also the year…
The UK and European defence: Will NATO be enough?
During her time as British Prime Minister handling Brexit, Theresa May was fond of pointing out that “the UK is leaving the European Union but it is not leaving Europe”.[1]…
Engaging with Europe after Brexit: Time to reset the UK’s relationship with the Council of Europe
The UK’s relationship with the Council of Europe presents a paradox. In many ways, the UK is an exemplar within this organisation of 47 states. The UK was a founding…
Global Britain in 2030: Multilateralism and the importance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
The UK plays a leading role in responding to global challenges and has traditionally excelled at maximising foreign policy opportunities for national security and development.[1] However, within a shifting geo-political,…
The UK and the Commonwealth: Leading the rights path
With the COVID-19 pandemic battering the world socially and economically, both the Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the Secretary General of the United…
Brexit Britain at the United Nations
Following the 2016 Brexit referendum, successive governments have been keen to emphasise that Britain’s withdrawal from the EU is not a rejection of international institutions and cooperation more broadly. Advocates…
Recommitting the UK to multilateralism through the United Nations
The global order is changing: traditional champions of international cooperation work to undermine the system of rules they helped build and multilateral organisations face a crisis of legitimacy at the…
Kindred spirits: How a post-Brexit Britain and the EU can work together to strengthen multilateralism
In December 2016, in a speech at Chatham House, then UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talked about the promise of a post-Brexit UK “to be more outward-looking and more engaged…
The UK and Canada: National Security and collaboration in uncertain times
The contemporary world of international relations is marked by two major countervailing trends. First, is a number of complicated existential threats, like climate change and pandemics, which require earnest international…
Another look at values-based multilateralism
Every few years, Western leaders raise the idea of democracies working in 'alliance' or 'concert' on global challenges. The late US Senator John McCain, an esteemed supporter of transatlantic cooperation,…
Partnerships for the future of UK Foreign Policy: Conclusions and Recommendations
The contributions to this essay collection highlight the range of different opportunities that a truly engaged Global Britain can take advantage of on the world stage as it seeks to…
Projecting the UK’s values abroad: Executive Summary
2021 is going to be an important year for the UK’s global ambitions. Exiting both the post-Brexit transition period and, vaccines permitting, the toughest COVID restrictions the UK will have…
Projecting the UK’s values abroad: Introduction
This essay collection asks, and tries to answer, the question ‘what can Britain do now?’ It is an examination of the emerging tools and strategies the UK can use to…
The UK needs a national strategy for the next generations to guide future foreign policy
The NSxNG approach to making future UK foreign policy and wider national strategy In the context of Brexit and COVID-19, there is a growing sense that we need to collectively…
How the UK becomes a global force for Democracy and Freedom
The Government’s current Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy seeks to position the UK after Brexit and in the context of a Biden-administration taking office. My…
2021 – A pivotal year ahead for ‘Global Britain’
Ever since the referendum, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and other Conservative Party politicians have presented Brexit as the first step toward building a new ‘Global Britain’. As Johnson declared in…
Could the UK project positive values on financial transparency?
The global pandemic has put pressures on public services and on government revenue streams all around the world. Immediate measures being discussed include wealth taxes on those most able to…
An environmental dimension to UK foreign policy
Four years on from the vote to leave the European Union (EU) much has been written about the UK’s international role in a post-Brexit world. Only recently, however, has the…
Three pillars for a sustainable trade policy after Brexit
In January, for the first time in nearly 50 years, the UK will ‘take back control’ of its trade policy from the EU. During and since the referendum campaign, Brexit-supporting…
The ethics of offensive cyber operations
Turn off the lights in Moscow? This is just one of the possible uses of offensive cyber operations (OCOs) briefed to the press by senior British defence sources.[1] Put simply,…
Downgrading DFID – How will Britain’s Overseas Development Aid Agenda change now DFID is part of the FCO?
For the last 23 years, since the birth of the Blair government, a key aspect of British foreign policy, and indeed Britain’s global reputation, has been its overseas development aid…
Projecting the UK’s values abroad: Conclusions and recommendations
The Government’s roadmap for 2020 has not quite unfolded the way they might have initially hoped, with a global pandemic liable to disrupt even the best laid plans. The current…
The principles for Global Britain: Executive Summary
This publication recommends how the UK Government can decide the principles and values that should underpin its concept of Global Britain’ and provides some strong suggestions of what they should…
Finding Britain’s role in a changing world: Principles (and priorities) for Global Britain
This publication explores the ethical basis on which the UK’s emerging post-Brexit foreign policy is being built, examining the principles and values that should help define it and looks at…
Prospects for an ethical foundation for a foreign policy in the context of democratic regression and authoritarian resurgence
Revising and reviving a values-based foreign policy at a time of unprecedented global fragility, complexity and uncertainty is an intimidating proposition. The strategic environment has radically shifted from the heady…
Developing domestic foundations for a values-based UK foreign policy
The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, provides a welcome opportunity for a comprehensive review of the UK’s positioning in world politics. It comes at a pivotal…
Communitarian foreign policy: Ethics and public opinion
Summary Ethics are a fundamental aspect of foreign policy, not an add-on. They should be grounded in the relationship between government and the governed. This would involve far more engagement…
Seeing ‘I’ to ‘I’: British support for idealism and interest-based approaches to foreign policy
In the context of recent changes to the structure of the foreign policy and international aid apparatus, and considering the upcoming Integrated Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Review, here…
The UK and the international rules-based system
The maintenance and enhancement of the international rules-based system (IRBS) has been an essential British interest in the 75 years since the end of the Second World War. Having contributed…
Putting atrocity prevention at the heart of British foreign policy
Of today’s major and emerging crises, the vast majority – including Syria, Yemen, Libya, Myanmar, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Venezuela, and Xinjiang – are driven, at least…
The principles for Global Britain: Conclusions and Recommendations
The core purpose of this short publication has been to try and tease out how the UK Government can decide on the values that should underpin the UK’s evolving ‘Global…
If Labour wants to put human rights at the heart of its foreign policy, it needs to talk more about Putin’s Russia
On April 4th 2020 Keir Starmer was voted in as new leader of the Labour Party by a considerable margin against his rivals. One of his key campaign pledges was…
The impact of Covid-19: A case for maintaining external aid commitments and international cooperation
In conflict affected and vulnerable regions around the world the impact from and reactions to Covid-19 are differentiated. Different countries find themselves at varying stages of the pandemic. The situation is variable according to…
FPC Briefing: Liberalism and Geopolitics beyond COVID-19
Spare a thought for my generation - Generation X, the generation born immediately following the Baby Boom, from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1970s. Mine was the generation…
Finding Britain’s role in a changing world: Executive Summary
The United Kingdom is preparing for its post-Brexit place in the world at a time when the principles of liberal democracy and the rules-based world order are facing their greatest…
Divided Kingdom: How do Attitudes Towards Immigration Vary Based on Demographic Differences and Voting Preferences?
Since Brexit’s inception, immigration has been a hugely dominant theme. Theresa May’s government pledged to reduce net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’, a proclamation[1] aimed at capitalising on anti-immigrant…
Back to the Future – Why a Human Rights-Focused Foreign Policy must keep up with Technology
“Technology is, of course, a double edged sword. Fire can cook our food but also burn us.” Jason Silva, the Venezuelan-American filmmaker and public speaker Last year marked the 70th…
Brexit in the context of democracy under threat
One of the most profound characteristics of the public debates on Brexit is the substantial lack of attention to its international implications. The Brexit issue is naturally debated in the…
FPC Briefing: In Defence of Multilateralism
Brexit is an attempt to tackle domestic problems by altering our relationship with our European neighbours. Some feel that this is doomed to fail because our economy and security is…
Lessons from Brexit: (Re)balancing Euroscepticism
As the Brexit process appears to be drawing to an uncertain close, there are still lessons to be learned from the past three years for the United Kingdom and the…
Why would a Third Country Root for Soft Brexit? Views and Lessons from Turkey
The British and the Europeans are not the only two publics, holding their breath and waiting for the outcome of Brexit. Turkey is also observing the situation, hoping for the…
Post-Brexit: What could a transformative, values-based EU and UK partnership in Foreign Policy look like?
As like-minded partners, sharing many policy traditions, norms and standards the EU and UK have every strategic interest in working together on a values-based foreign policy post-Brexit. In the ongoing…
Associate EU Citizenship: A Brief Assessment
Is Brexit just a choice between the Chequers deal or a ‘hard Brexit’? Supporters of ‘associate citizenship’ believe there is not. The proposed associate citizenship would allow individuals to enjoy…
How UK foreign policy benefits from EU membership, and the pitfalls of Brexit
As the UK faces the uncertainty of Brexit, this article examines how its policies towards third countries including enlargement, trade, migration, development and energy policies have been mediated through the…
What Brexiting Britain can learn from Bern
At first sight, EU relations with Switzerland might seem a ‘niche’ topic for a British observer. But in fact current developments are rather important in understanding potential models for the…
UK’s relationship with the Western Balkans after Brexit
The UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) in 2019 will provide an opportunity for the country to re-define its foreign policy. This opportunity is greatest in regions where the…
Catalonia’s Nationalist Tragedy – and lessons for Brexit?
Catalonia’s recent independence referendum and outcome is a reminder of nationalism’s flawed promise: The myth of a swift divorce that is also apparent in Britain’s Brexit debâcle. Both cases give…
FPC Briefing: The capitalist case for renewables
In his book, More Human, former Downing Street policy chief Steve Hilton argues that, in certain sectors, despite the rhetoric of the ‘free-market’, enterprises succeed by ‘entrenching their advantages through…
FPC Briefing: How Investment Treaties have a chilling effect on Human Rights
In this FPC Briefing Sam Fowles argues that human rights are the ultimate arbiter of the relationship between the state and the individual, yet a new generation of trade and…
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Europe and the people: After Brexit: Can we build a new democratic foundation for UK-EU relations? panel video
From the FPC's Europe and the people: Examining the EU's democratic legitimacy London Conference on October 26th 2016 the After Brexit: Can we build a new democratic foundation for UK-EU…
FPC Briefing: The Moral and the Strategic-The UK’s Response to the Syrian Crisis
In recent days there has been a great deal of debate surrounding the humanitarian imperatives for aiding refugees from the Middle East. This new briefing by Dr Simon Mabon builds…
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Events in this programme
Shifting sands: The UK’s role in the Middle East and the changing international order
This seminar, organised by the FPC and the SEPAD (Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation) project at the Richardson Institute for Peace at Lancaster University, aims to look at the evolving picture across the region, looking at the key challenges on the ground, the continuing geo-strategic tensions and the impact of the Biden Administration’s policy agenda. The diplomatic dynamics are becoming increasingly complex with traditional Western allies – such as Saudi Arabia, ...
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Speakers
Rt Hon Alistair Burt, Pro-Chancellor at Lancaster University and former Minister of State for the Middle East
Professor Simon Mabon, Director of the SEPAD project and Chair in International Politics at Lancaster University
Dr Edward Wastnidge, Deputy Director of the SEPAD project and Senior Lecturer in Politics & International Studies at the Open University
Dr May Darwich, Lecturer in International Relations of the Middle East at the University of Birmingham
Chair: Baroness Northover, Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
When
June 16, 2021
5:00pm-6:30pm (BST)
Where
The event will take place on Zoom.
Can the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games help UK’s post-Brexit sport diplomacy get out of the starting blocks?
In summer 2022, Birmingham will be hosting the Commonwealth Games, the UK’s first ‘sport mega event’ in this post-Brexit landscape. The 2012 Olympics presented a clear positive vision of the UK as a young, dynamic and diverse country, as well as showcasing the UK’s longer term vision of its future with sustainability and legacy being a core part of the message. The 2022 Commonwealth Games present a similar opportunity to ...
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Speakers
Baroness Grey-Thompson, Paralympian, Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords and Broadcaster
Chris Matheson MP, Shadow Minister for Media
Neale Coleman CBE, Senior Advisor on London 2012
Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future
Dr Daniel Fitzpatrick, Lecturer at Aston Centre for Europe
When
May 18, 2021
5:00pm-6:30pm (BST)
Where
The event will take place on Zoom.
Investigating Corruption: US versus UK – A Widening Transatlantic Divide?
Barely into the start of 2021 and events around the world have brought the question of global corruption and the fight against it sharply into focus. Noticeable is the increasing divergence between governing authorities in the US and UK’s approach towards tackling anti-corruption and money laundering. The new Biden administration has clearly identified corruption as ‘a core national security interest’ and recent ‘historic’ legislation passed through US Congress takes aim ...
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Speakers
Tom Burgis, investigative journalist at The Financial Times and author of ‘Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World’
Casey Michel, US investigative journalist and author of upcoming book ‘American Kleptocracy’
Dr Tena Prelec, Research Fellow with the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford
Dr Sue Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption
Chair: Susan Coughtrie, Project Director at the Foreign Policy Centre
When
April 20, 2021
5:00pm-6:30pm (UK Time)
Where
The event will take place on Zoom.
Defining the values the UK should stand for and protecting its ability to defend them
This public zoom event is part of the Foreign Policy Centre’s ongoing Finding Britain’s role in a changing world project responding to the UK’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. It will comprise a short keynote speech from Tom Tugendhat MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, expert responses and an audience Q&A session. The event will take stock of the deliberations around the Government’s Integrated ...
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Speakers
Tom Tugendhat MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee
Dr Kate Ferguson, Co-Director of Protection Approaches
Benjamin Ward, UK Director of Human Rights Watch
Chair: Deborah Haynes, Foreign Affairs Editor, Sky News
When
November 26, 2020
5:15pm-6:30pm
Where
The event will take place on Zoom.
Finding Britain’s role in a changing world: building a values based foreign policy
This Foreign Policy Centre and Oxfam event will launch our new collection of short essays that seeks to re-examine and re-imagine the UK’s foreign policy and discuss its findings about how Britain can best respond to global challenges. The collection of essays features the panellists listed, as well as Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood MP (Chair of the Defence Select Committee), Caroline Lucas MP (former Green Party Leader), Stephen Twigg (former ...
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Speakers
Baroness Anelay, Chair of the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Select Committee
Lord McConnell, Former First Minister of Scotland
Theo Clarke MP, Member of the International Development Select Committee
Dr Emily Jones, Global Economic Governance Programme, Blavatnik School of Government at University of Oxford
Danny Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive, Oxfam GB
Chair: Adam Hug, Director, The Foreign Policy Centre
When
March 3, 2020
6-7:30pm
Where
Committee Room 12, Houses of Parliament, London, SW1A 0AA