To what extent is the ‘special relationship’ more myth than reality? Has nuclear cooperation strengthened or weakened the Anglo-American security relationship? For what reasons has Anglo-American military cooperation persisted in the conflicts that have involved these two countries since the end of the Cold War? How much ‘specialness’ was evident during the War on Terror?

The Special Relationship? Anglo-American Security Relations

Choose One Question
1) To what extent is the ‘special relationship’ more myth than reality?

2) ‘The special security relationship has been critically dependent on the relationship between US Presidents and British Prime Ministers’. Discuss in relation to either a) the Cold War or b) post-Cold War periods.

3) ‘Great Britain’s .. attempt to play a separate role – that is, a role apart from Europe, a role based on a “special relationship” with the United States .. is about played out’ (Dean Acheson speech at the West Point Military Academy 5 December 1962). Was this statement accurate in 1962 and is it accurate today?

4) ‘The Suez Crisis was the nadir of the special relationship: the first Gulf War of 1990-91 was the high point’. To what extent do you agree?

5) If the Anglo-American intelligence relationship is so unequal, why has it lasted for so long?

6) Has nuclear cooperation strengthened or weakened the Anglo-American security relationship?

7) For what reasons has Anglo-American military cooperation persisted in the conflicts that have involved these two countries since the end of the Cold War?

8) How much ‘specialness’ was evident during the War on Terror?