The Role and Influence of Chatham House in the Making of British Foreign Policy

Abstract

The previous chapter examined the backgrounds of the founding generation of Council and Chatham House leaders, establishing their scientific outlook, liberal internationalism, elitism, religiosity and Anglo-Saxonism. This chapter aims concretely to establish that, despite official disclaimers, Chatham House had an enduring de facto institutional policy or ‘line’ that constituted the basis of the Institute’s attempts to ‘influence’ the making of official British foreign policy. Secondly, the chapter introduces the principal mechanisms through which Chatham House attempted to influence official policy. Chatham House was actively mobilised during the Second World War and several leading figures were placed at the heart of the making of British foreign policy with the potential to influence and to implement official policy. The chapter considers the policy-related influence of Chatham House first by outlining the activities of key individuals and of two specific arms of the organisation (Foreign Research and Press Service and the Institute of Pacific Relations’ work). Secondly, it considers the Institute’s influence by examining its role in the making of ‘key decisions’ that moved British policy closer to that of the United States and away from traditional ideas about the central importance of the British Empire.