Foreign policy of Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher at Camp David during her meeting with Ronald Reagan (December 1984)

Foreign policy of Margaret Thatcher is known for "having helped the U.S. stare down and defeat the Soviet Union".^[1] As Thatcher pointed out herself "The United States and Britain have together been the greatest alliance in defence of liberty and justice".^[2] At her first days as a Prime Minister of UK she criticised the Western societies (thus referring not only to British voters and citizens) for their "self-questioning" that has gone too far that it causes paralysis, and that action should substitute introspection at the beginning of a 'dangerous decade' that challenges Western security and way of life, among other international problems she points the "immediate threat from the Soviet Union" which is "military rather than ideological" at the end of the 70s.^[3] These words are a cornerstone to Margaret Tatcher's later foreign policy as a Prime Minister of United Kingdom. Together with Ronald Reagan they made an enduring effort to bring freedom to people in the Eastern Bloc and under communist regimes that will refuse them primal human rights like freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of travel, etc.^[4] This effort will later result in the Fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism as well, and the dissolution of Soviet Union.

See also

• Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration

References

1. Ishaan Tharoor, "Margaret Thatcher’s Foreign Policy: Was the Iron Lady on the Wrong Side of History?", The Time, April 08, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2014
2. Margaret Tatcher, Speech in New York, August 1991, quoted in Andrew Adonis, Tim Hames, A Conservative Revolution?: The Thatcher-Reagan Decade in Perspective, Manchester University Press, 1994, p.114
3. The West In The World Today, Speech to the Foreign Policy Association, New York, December 18, 1979
4. Ronald Reagan address to British Parliament, 1982

   Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that's now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets, but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated. The British people know that, given strong leadership, time and a little bit of hope, the forces of good ultimately rally and triumph over evil. Here among you is the cradle of self-government, the Mother of Parliaments. Here is the enduring greatness of the British contribution to mankind, the great civilized ideas: individual liberty, representative government, and the rule of law under God. I've often wondered about the shyness of some of us in the West about standing for these ideals that have done so much to ease the plight of man and the hardships of our imperfect world. This reluctance to use those vast resources at our command reminds me of the elderly lady whose home was bombed in the Blitz. As the rescuers moved about, they found a bottle of brandy she'd stored behind the staircase, which was all that was left standing. And since she was barely conscious, one of the workers pulled the cork to give her a taste of it. She came around immediately and said, "Here now -- there now, put it back. That's for emergencies. [Laughter] Well, the emergency is upon us. Let us be shy no longer. Let us go to our strength. Let us offer hope. Let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable. During the dark days of the Second World War, when this island was incandescent with courage, Winston Churchill exclaimed about Britain's adversaries, "What kind of a people do they think we are? Well, Britain's adversaries found out what extraordinary people the British are. But all the democracies paid a terrible price for allowing the dictators to underestimate us. We dare not make that mistake again. So, let us ask ourselves, "What kind of people do we think we are? And let us answer, "Free people, worthy of freedom and determined not only to remain so but to help others gain their freedom as well.

   Ronald Reagan, Address to British Parliament, 1982 full text video

Further reading

• Paul Sharp, Thatcher's Diplomacy: The Revival of British Foreign Policy, St. Martin's Press, 1997
• James Cooper, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan: A Very Political Special Relationship, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012
  • A parallel study of their domestic economic policies and the New Right.