Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.

Accepted Paper:

From the Cold War to the Global War on Terror: British Defence Policy toward Africa, 1990 - 2005  
Jonathan Hill (King's College, University of London)

Paper long abstract:

The period of 1990 to 2005 has witnessed perhaps two of the most profound changes in the international security environment since 1945: the end of the Cold War and the launching of the global war on terror. In response to these changes successive British governments have initiated important changes to the country's defence policy. These not only include a change in the way defence planning and management are conducted, but a fundamental re-evaluation of the main defence challenges confronting the UK and reorganisation of the Armed Forces. Despite these changes, certain significant continuities within British defence policy remain. One of the most notable is how Africa is viewed and understood. Another are the roles outlined for the UK's Armed Forces in that continent.

Building on the insights offered by the panel's previous papers, this paper will examine how, despite significant changes in both the international security environment and British defence policy since 1990, understandings of and policy toward Africa remain largely unchanged. Africa is still perceived as a hopeless continent in need of being saved by international forces. Furthermore, there are surprising parallels between the ways Britain proposes to deploy its Armed Forces in Africa today in order to achieve this, with how they were deployed during the colonial period. In this way, the paper will offer fresh insights into the continuities and discontinuities of British defence policy toward Africa.

Panel D6
The return of the gunboat: British defence policy toward Africa, 1805 - 2005
  Session 1