The effect of ontological security needs on forming alliances and coalitions in international relations: Case study of the Anglo-American special relationship

Document Type : Original

Authors

1 Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran

2 European Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

While most international alliances eventually fail to survive in times of conflict of interest between their members, the Anglo-American special relationship (AASR), despite some conflicting interests, has not only gone beyond cooperation in a few specific areas, but also it has become an essential part of the foreign policy identity of the two allies; in particular, for the United Kingdom to restore its trembled position after WWII and regain some features of its glorious past. The current paper, firstly and with a descriptive-analytical approach explains that traditional mainstreams such as realism and liberalism which, based on general principles such as cost-benefit or collective interests, consider the formation of international alliances as an "exogenous" phenomenon are not able to provide a comprehensive explanation for the stability of the AASR in times of conflict between the two allies. Regarding this, by applying ontological security theory in international relations and exploring its advantages, and finally using the case study method, the present study discusses that the Britain’s ontological security needs after WWII is considered one of the main reasons for the Kingdom to maintain the special relationship in times of conflict of interest with the United States. In other words, by prioritizing ontological security over physical security, post-war Britain's ontological security needs have been the UK’s "resilience mechanism" for preserving the AASR and its seemingly irrational behaviors in times of conflict of interest with the United States which at times even led to ended up sacrificing its interests.

Keywords

Main Subjects

حوزة موضوعی: بریتانیا و امریکا

Scope: UK and USA

References

Abdelrehim N. (2010). Oil Nationalisation and managerial disclosure: The case of Anglo-Iranian oil company, 1933-1951. Doctoral Thesis. York: University of York.
Bell D. (2007). The Idea of Greater Britain: Empire and the Future of World Order, 1860–1900. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Berenskoetter F. (2012). “Parameters of a national biography”. European Journal of International Relations. 20(1): 262–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066112445290.
Browning CS, Joenniemi P, Steele BJ. (2021). Vicarious Identity in International Relations: Self, Security, and Status on the Global Stage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burk K. (2009). Old World, New World the Story of Britain and America. London: Abacus.
Calvocoressi P. (1966). “Europe's alliance blues”. The Political Quarterly. 37(4): 357-365. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923x.1966.tb00234.x.
Campanella E. (2019). Birth of an Idea. M. Dassù (Ed.). Anglo Nostalgia: The Politics of Emotion in a Fractured West (pp. 81–104). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190068936.003.0005.
Dunne T. (2004). “‘When the shooting starts’: Atlanticism in British security strategy”. International Affairs. 80(5): 893-909. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00424.x.
Giddens A. (1991). Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity press.
---------- (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Haglund D. (2020). Us "Culture Wars" and the Anglo-American Special Relationship. Berlin: Springer Nature.
Hesjedal T, Mustad JE. (2022). The dismantling of the British Empire - Engelsk 2 - NDLA. ndla.no. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://ndla.no/nb/subject:6e2e2319-cb8a-4dd2-b382-e30f001633bb/topic:e468e682-4ae7-4e37-ab34-d24506a0e586/resource:6d9e1f5b-2269-4bf7-b098-4745cbf99bee.
Innes AJ. (2014). “Performing Security Absent the State: Encounters with a Failed Asylum Seeker in the UK”. Security Dialogue. 45(6): 565-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010614540026.
Kinnvall C. (2004). “Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, Identity, and the Search for Ontological Security”. Political Psychology. 25(5): 741-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00396.x.
Kinnvall C, Mitzen J. (2020). “Anxiety, fear, and ontological security in world politics: Thinking with and Beyond Giddens”. International Theory. 12(2): 240-256. https://doi.org/10.1017/s175297192000010x.
Krebs RR. (2015). Narrative and the Making of Us National Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Laing RD. (1965). The Divided Self. New York, Pantheon Books.
Lang AF. (2002). Agency and Ethics: The Politics of Military Intervention. Albany: State University of New York Press
Legro JW, Moravcsik A. (1999). “Is anybody still a realist?” International Security. 24(2): 5-55. https://doi.org/10.1162/016228899560130.
Lodal J. (2001). The Price of Dominance: The New Weapons of Mass Destruction and Their Challenge to American Leadership. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.
Marsh S. (1998). “The Special Relationship and the Anglo-Iranian oil crisis, 1950–4”. Review of International Studies. 24(4): 529-544. doi:10.1017/s0260210598005294.
Marsh S, Baylis J. (2006). “The Anglo-american special relationship: The lazarus of international relations”. Diplomacy & Statecraft. 17(1): 173-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592290500533841.
Mitzen J. (2006a). “Ontological security in world politics: State identity and the security dilemma”. European Journal of International Relations. 12(3): 341-370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066106067346.
Mohammadpour S, Saeidabadi M. (2021). “The United Kingdom-United States mutual understanding of the importance of the special relationship: From nationalization of the Iranian Oil Industry to the JCPOA”. International Relations Research. 11(1): 103-132. https://doi.org/10.22034/irr.2021.130931. [In Persian].
Morris J. (1968). Pax Britannica: The Climax of an Empire. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
Reynolds D. (1985). “A ‘special relationship’? America, Britain and the International Order since the Second World War”. International Affairs. 62(1): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.2307/2618063.  
Rosen A. (2008). The Transformation of British Life, 1950-2000: A Social History. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Seeley JR. (2010). The Expansion of England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shuckburgh E. (2000). Descent to suez: Diaries 1951-56. London: Phoenix.
Snyder GH. (1997). Alliance Politics. New York: Cornell UP.
Steele BJ. (2008). Ontological Security in International Relations: Self-Identity and the IR State. New York: Routledge.
----------. (2005). “Ontological security and the power of self-identity: British neutrality and the American Civil War”. Review of International Studies. 31(3): 519-540. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210505006613.
Steele BJ, Browning CS, Joenniemi P. (2021). Vicarious Identity in International Relations: Self, Security, and Status on the Global Stage. Oxford University Press.
Subotić J. (2015). “Narrative, ontological security, and foreign policy change”. Foreign Policy Analysis [Preprint]. https://doi.org/10.1111/fpa.12089.
Vucetic S. (2021). Greatness and Decline: National Identity and British Foreign Policy. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
----------. (2016). “British national identity and the Anglo-American Special Relationship”. Journal of Transatlantic Studies. 14(3): 272-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794012.2016.1200303
----------. (2011a). The Anglosphere a Genealogy of a Racialized Identity in International Relations. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
----------. (2011b). “A racialized peace? how Britain and the US made their relationship special”. Foreign Policy Analysis. 7(4): 403-422. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-8594.2011.00147.x.
Wallace W. (2005). “The collapse of British foreign policy”. International Affairs. 81(1): 53-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2005.00438.x.
----------. (1991). “Foreign policy and national identity in the United Kingdom”. International Affairs. 67(1): 65-80. https://doi.org/10.2307/2621219.
Wallace W, Phillips C. (2009). “Reassessing the special relationship”. International Affairs. 85(2): 263–284. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2009.00793.x.
Wolfers A. (1959). “Stresses and strains in ‘going it with others’”. Discord and collaboration: Essays on International Politics. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
Zarakol A. (2016). “States and ontological security: A historical rethinking”. Cooperation and Conflict. 52(1): 48-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836716653158.
Journal of Countries Studies
Volume 1, Issue 1
2023
Pages 103-130

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 12 February 2023
  • Revise Date: 13 March 2023
  • Accept Date: 22 March 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics