Abstract
The introduction first briefly highlights the historical background of the United Kingdom’s and Ireland’s very close bonds with the United States and explains why at the end of the 2000s both countries expressed their willingness to see economic interests henceforth take center stage in their relationship with the USA. It then explains the objective of this book, which is to revisit the economic relationship that ties the UK and Ireland to the USA. This will be achieved by gauging the extent to which those economies are linked, by analyzing the interplay of cultural factors and economic interests, by exploring some of their complexities, and assessing their resilience.
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Notes
- 1.
The Economist (2008) ‘Anglo-Saxon Attitudes: A Survey of British and American Views of the World’, a poll commissioned by the Economist and carried out by YouGov in Britain and Polimetrix in America, The Economist, 29 March.
- 2.
Pankaj Ghemawat has found that trade between countries that use the same language is 42 % higher than between countries that speak a different language. Schumpeter (2012) ‘The Power of Tribes’, The Economist, 28 January.
- 3.
J. Straw (2010) ‘The Whitehead Lecture: Special or Merely Close? Britain’s Relationship with the US in 2010’, (London: Chatham House), 7 December, p. 3.
- 4.
Churchill coined the term during a lecture tour of American universities. W. Churchill (1946) The Sinews of Peace (‘Iron Curtain Speech’), Westminster College, Fulton, MO, 5 March.
- 5.
House of Commons, Foreign Affairs Committee (UK) (2010) Global Security: UK–US Relations (London), 28 March, p. 3.
- 6.
58 % thought that the relationship was close or very close and only 46 % believed it should be closer. The Economist ‘Anglo-Saxon Attitudes’.
- 7.
A. Menon (2010) ‘Between Faith and Reason: UK Policy Towards the US and the EU’, briefing paper, (London: Chatham House), 20 July, p. 2.
- 8.
The Economist (2011) ‘Essential, but Fraying’, The Economist, 25 May; R. Cornwell (2010) ‘So Much for the Special Relationship’, Independent, 12 April; G. Wittell (2011) ‘Why “Special” Is No Longer Good Enough’, The Times, 25 May.
- 9.
J. Major (2011) ‘America, Britain and Europe: An Evolving Relationship’, the John C. Whitehead Lecture (London: Chatham House), 10 November, p. 3.
- 10.
House of Commons, Foreign Affairs Committee, Global Security, p. 3.
- 11.
D. Cameron (2010) ‘A Staunch and Self-Confident Ally’, Wall Street Journal, 20 July; A. MacDonald and L. Meckler (2010) ‘Cameron to Accent US Trade’, Wall Street Journal, 20 July.
- 12.
J. Straw ‘The Whitehead Lecture: Special or Merely Close?’, p. 7.
- 13.
Charles Kupchan (2010) ‘Britain is no longer America’s Bridge to Europe’, Financial Times, 1 June.
- 14.
A. Menon ‘Between Faith and Reason’, p. 2, 4.
- 15.
D. Cameron ‘A Staunch and Self-Confident Ally’.
- 16.
K. Sengupta (2010) ‘Hague Looks Beyond the US in his Vision for Foreign Policy’, Independent, 2 July; W. Hague (2011) ‘Britain and Turkey: A New Special Relationship’, Telegraph, 22 November; A. Stevenson (2010) ‘“Humble” UK Seeks Indian Special Relationship’, 28 July.
- 17.
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (2009) ‘Remarks by President Barack Obama at Suntory Hall’, 14 November.
- 18.
N. Gardiner (2009) ‘The Obama-Brown White House Talks: The U.S-U.K. Special Relationship Must Be Maintained’ (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation), Web Memo no. 2317, 1 March.
- 19.
A. Menon ‘Between Faith and Reason’, pp. 7–8.
- 20.
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (2011) ‘Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom in Joint Press Conference in London, United Kingdom’, 25 May.
- 21.
T. R. Bromund (2011) ‘Obama’s UK Speech: Rhetoric Cannot Substitute for Achievement’, 25 May; A. Gimson (2011) ‘Barack Obama’s Speech Failed to Live up to his Own High Standards’, Telegraph, 25 May.
- 22.
Number 10, British Prime Minister’s office official site (2011) ‘Prime Minister and President Obama’s Article: An Essential Relationship’, 23 May. However, the term ‘special relationship’ has been used again by Barack Obama since then notably during his video message to the Queen in 2012. The White House, (2012) President Obama’s Message for Queen Elizabeth II, 5 June. It is also regularly used in the White House press releases. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (2015) ‘Statement by the Press Secretary on the Visit of Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom’, 10 January; The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (2015) ‘Readout of the President’s Call to Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom’, 8 May.
- 23.
Accordingly, academic research has tended to focus on the history of migration and the Irish-American community. See, for example, K. A. Miller (1985) Emigrants and Exiles, Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America (New York: Oxford University Press); J. J. Lee and M. R. Casey (eds) (2007) Making the Irish American, History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States (New York and London: New University Press); See also M. A. Jones (1992) ‘Ulster Migration, 1783–1815’ in E. E. Green (ed.) Essays in Scotch-Irish History (Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation), pp. 46–68; E. E. Evans (1992) ‘The Scotch-Irish: Their Cultural Adaptation and Heritage in the American Old West’ in E. E. Green (ed.) Essays in Scotch-Irish History, pp. 69–86.
- 24.
For a detailed account of the social ascension of the Irish-American community in the twentieth century, see J. P. Dolan (2008) The Irish Americans, a History (New York: Bloomsbury Press), pp. 209–302.
- 25.
C. O’Clery (1997) Daring Diplomacy: Clinton’s Secret Search for Peace in Ireland, (Boulder CO: Roberts Rinehart Publishers), pp. 15–31.
- 26.
The Irish-American community’s and the American authorities’ attitude towards the Irish endeavours to gain independence and, from the 1970s onwards, towards the Northern Ireland conflict have also been extensively written about. See for example: S. Cronin (1987) Washington’s Irish Policy 1916–1986: Independence, Partition, Neutrality (Dublin: Anvil Books); J. E. Thompson (2001) American Policy and Northern Ireland: A Saga of Peace Building (Westport CT: Praeger); C. O’Clery, Daring Diplomacy.
- 27.
Government of Ireland (GOI), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) (2009) Ireland and America: Challenges and Opportunities in a New Context, March, p. 6.
- 28.
GOI, DFA, Ireland and America, p. 4, 11–2; M. Fitzgerald (2009) ‘Challenging Times for US–Ireland Relationship’, The Irish Times, 21 January.
- 29.
GOI, DFA, Ireland and America, pp. 4–8.
- 30.
A. P. Dobson and S. Marsh (2013) Anglo-American Relations, Contemporary perspectives (London and New York: Routledge), pp. 1–25.
- 31.
H. Milner (1992) ‘International Theories of Cooperation among Nations, Strengths and Weaknesses’, World Politics, 44, April, pp. 466–96.
- 32.
Given the scarcity of academic publications on the economic aspect of the Anglo-American relationship, it is worth mentioning J. D. McCausland and D. T. Stuart’s book which contains three chapters dedicated to this topic. J. D. McCausland and D. T. Stuart (eds) (2006) US–UK Relations at the Start of the 21st Century (Carlisle PA: US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute), pp. 17–51. More recently, J. McKinney and A. P. Dobson have also co-authored an article which gives a useful insight on the historical background and evolution of the economic relationship between the United States and Britain since World War II. J. McKinney and A. P. Dobson (2013) ‘The Anglo-American Economic Relationship: Special or Not?’ in A. P. Dobson and S. Marsh (eds) Anglo-American Relations, Contemporary perspectives, pp. 129–153.
- 33.
G. J. Ikenberry (1993) ‘The Political Origins of Bretton Woods’ in M. D. Bordo and B. Eichengreen (eds) A Retropective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform (Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press), January, pp. 155–198.
- 34.
These institutions included the International Monetary fund, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and The International Bank for Reconstruction.
- 35.
The countries that adhered to the Bretton Woods agreements committed to adopting a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate by tying its currency to gold.
- 36.
For the reasons of this collapse, see P. M. Garber (1993) ‘The Collapse of the Bretton Woods Fixed Exchange Rate System’ in M. D. Bordo and B. Eichengreen (eds) A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform (Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press), January, pp. 461–494.
- 37.
On the reasons that explain the simultaneous accession to power of those two staunch advocates of neoliberalism, see J. E. Cronin (2006) ‘Britain and America Beyond Empire: Neoliberalism, the ‘Special Relationship’ and the Search for Global Order’, paper presented to the Conference of Europeanists, Chicago IL, 1 April.
- 38.
It must be pointed out that Ireland also adheres to this economic model. A. Sapir (2006) ‘Globalization and the Reform of European Social Models’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 44, 2, p. 375.
- 39.
M. Calingaert (2006) ‘The Special Relationship—Economic and Business Aspects: American Perspective’ in J. D. McCausland and D. T. Stuart (eds) US–UK Relations, p. 18.
- 40.
Anne Groutel (forthcoming in 2016), American Janus-faced Economic Diplomacy Towards Ireland in The Mid-1950s, Irish Economic and Social History.
- 41.
H. Mc Donald (2015) ‘700 US companies now located in Ireland as direct investment soars’, Guardian, 5 March.
- 42.
GOI, DFA, Ireland and America, p. 9; A. Groutel (2012), ‘Whither the State?: The Recent Evolution of the Role of the State in Ireland’, in W. Huber, S. Mayer and J. Novak (eds), Ireland in/and Europe, Cross-Currents and Exchanges, Irish Studies in Europe, 4, pp. 189–202.
- 43.
The negotiations of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement (TTIP) were launched in February 2013.
- 44.
J. Kotkin is a geographer and a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University, and an adjunct fellow of the Legatum Institute in London. J. Kotkin (2010) ‘The New World Order’, 27 September.
- 45.
H. Milner ‘International Theories of Cooperation’, p. 467.
- 46.
R. Raymond (2006) ‘The Special Relationship—Economic and Business Aspects: An American Perspective’ in J. D. McCausland and D. T. Stuart (eds) US–UK Relations, pp. 35–6.
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Groutel, A. (2017). Introduction. In: Groutel, A., Pauwels, MC., Peyronel, V. (eds) Revisiting the UK and Ireland’s Transatlantic Economic Relationship with the United States in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58550-9_1
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