The future of UK foreign policy: Sir Rodric Braithwaite

The new Coalition government came to power to find that their predecessors had bequeathed them a national defence strategy that was intellectually void; a military procurement policy paid for on the Micawber principle - that something would surely turn up, but measured in billions rather than sixpences; a bunch of generals on the verge of revolt; an unwinnable war in Afghanistan; a vision of Britain’s place and influence in the world based largely on wishful thinking; and a horrendous financial crisis. Given all that, their new National Security Strategy is not a bad piece of work. Of course the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the practical measures by which they propose to implement the strategy, is full of flaws and absurdities. Of course the Coalition, or at least its Tory component, is still gripped by illusion and by nostalgia for a vanished past when Britain could punch above its weight. But the government had to start somewhere, and they have at least taken a significant step towards devising a national defence posture suited to the twenty first century

Los mitos de la nueva y la vieja Rusia. Historias. Revista de la Dirección de Estudios Históricos. Num. 85 (2013) mayo-agosto

Rodric Braithwaite (Londres, 1932) es autor de varios libros que se derivan de su pasión y conocimiento de Rusia, así como de su experiencia como embajador en Moscú entre 1988 y 1992: El compromiso de Rusia (icipe, traducción de Agustín Vergara Sharp y Míriam Rodríguez Murphy, 1995), Russia and Euerope (1999), Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down (2003) y Moscú 1941: una ciudad y su pueblo en guerra (Crítica, traducción de Gonzalo G. Djembé y Francesc Fernández Sánchez, 2006). Braithwaite estudió letras francesas y rusas en la Universidad de Cambridge, y en 1995 se sumó al servicio diplomático inglés. Tomado del Financial Times del 22 de diciembre de 2011

Como Trotsky pronto lo supo, la transparencia no puede llegar muy lejos. Historias. Revista de la Dirección de Estudios Históricos Num. 80 (2011) septiembre-diciembre

Este artículo apareció en Financial Times el 4 de diciembre de 2010

La Russie, pays européen

Russia, a European Country, by Rodric Braithwaite Russia is a European country by history, religion and culture. Its size and its long borders with Asia are a source of anxiety rather than strength. Since the end of the Cold War it has been going through a painful period of massive internal change, as well as having to adjust itself to the loss of empire. The transition will take decades, perhaps even generations. Russia is more likely to end up as a very Russian kind of European social democracy, rather than an aggressively free market System on American lines. In any event it is in everybody's interest that Russia and the other European countries should find ever closer ways of cooperating with one another.Rodric Braithwaite analyse dans cet article les relations qu'entretient la Russie avec le monde extérieur (ex-Union soviétique, Europe centrale, Balkans, Europe occidentale), ainsi que l'attitude que les Occidentaux doivent adopter à son égard. Pour lui, la Russie vit actuellement le « douloureux processus d'ajustement » des puissances impérialistes qui perdent leur empire et les Russes doivent accepter la réalité, c'est-à-dire renoncer à leurs illusions de puissance et à vivre au-dessus de leurs moyens. De leur côté, les Occidentaux doivent éviter toute suspicion à l'encontre de la Russie, notamment face à une éventuelle restauration de l'empire, et ne pas considérer comme une menace ce qui est en fait seulement une défense des intérêts nationaux russes. Tout cela exigera beaucoup de temps, mais l'optimisme quant à l'avenir de la Russie reste la seule option raisonnable.Braithwaite, Neal Mercedes. La Russie, pays européen. In: Politique étrangère, n°2 - 1999 - 64ᵉannée. pp. 269-290

Pour un statu quo avec la Russie

For a Status Quo with Russia, by Rodric Braithwaite Russia is by no means the only source of potential instability in Eastern Europe. But any genuine, functioning, and durable System of security for Eastern Europe must involve Russia. The over-riding objective of Western policy in Western Europe must therefore be to devise means, including an institutional framework, within which Russia can become a satisfied status quo power there. This does not at all mean that the status quo has to be on terms dictated by Russia, but that the West needs to explore the issues of European security with the Russians in ways compatible with Russia's status as the largest of the European powers. This would mean, amongst other things, taking seriously Russian concerns about NATO enlargement and seeking mutually acceptable ways of mitigating them.La Russie n'est aucunement la seule source d'instabilité potentielle en Europe orientale. Mais, sans elle, il ne peut y avoir de système véritable, efficace et durable de sécurité dans cette zone. La politique occidentale en Europe orientale doit donc avant tout viser à créer des mécanismes, y compris un cadre institutionnel, à l'intérieur desquels la Russie pourra devenir une puissance qui accepte le statu quo dans la région. Cela ne signifie pas que celle-ci doit dicter les modalités du statu quo, mais que l'Occident doit examiner les problèmes de la sécurité européenne avec les Russes, en tenant compte du fait que la Russie est la plus grande des puissances européennes. Cela implique, notamment, qu'il faut prendre au sérieux les inquiétudes de la Russie au sujet d'un élargissement de l'OTAN et trouver des moyens mutuellement acceptables de les apaiser.Braithwaite, Neal Mercedes. Pour un statu quo avec la Russie. In: Politique étrangère, n°4 - 1996 - 61ᵉannée. pp. 759-775

The future of UK foreign policy

Upon assuming power in May, the United Kingdom’s historic coalition government set in motion three exercises that together aimed to reshape British foreign policy. Taken together, the new National Security Strategy (NSS), the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), seek to lay down the bounds of Britain’s future role in the world, to articulate Britain’s national interests, establish the goals of policy and set the means by which to achieve them. Timed to coincide with the government’s announcement of what should amount to a grand strategy for the United Kingdom, the cross-party Parliamentary committee for Public Administration released a report that stated that ‘the Government in Whitehall has lost the art of making national strategy in relation to defence and security’. Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative chairman, was not alone in his concern that an inability to ‘think strategically’ was fundamentally undermining the process of reviewing the UK’s national strategy. This report is conceived as an attempt to address this perceived failing. The contributors here – all with long and distinguished careers in British foreign policy – were asked to consider Britain’s role in the world in the broadest sense, to identify our core interests and the most appropriate capacities to secure them, and to do so in recognition of the reality of the resource constraints that are coming to define this period in British political history. Doing so in light of the government’s proposals serves to shine a light on whether the result of this review process represents a coherent and appropriate refocusing of British strategy that reflects the world as it is, and is realistic about the United Kingdom’s place in it

. 85 (2013) mayo-agosto. Historias. Revista de la Dirección de Estudios Históricos

- La América desaparecida por Georges Bataille. - La causa de la democracia post-soviética por Neil Buckley. - ¿Hacia la siguiente Revolución Rusa? por Robert Service. - Los mitos de la nueva y la vieja Rusia por Rodric Braithwaite. - Comida y guerra entre los tarascos del siglo XV por Rodolfo Fernández. - Paralelismos de dependencia narrativa entre dos cronistas de Indias: Francisco López de Gómara y Bernal Díaz del Castillo por Elami Ortiz-Hernán. - Sin propiedad comunal pero apropiación del desarrollo económico. Istmo de Tehuantepec, México, siglos XVII-XIX por Leticia Reina. - “Hacer la América”: la fortuna del general Félix María Calleja por Juan Ortiz. - Viejos problemas, instituciones nuevas (y efímeras): Un botón de muestra de los problemas agrarios en el II Imperio por Ruth E. Arboleyda. – Miradas externas: la independencia novohispana en profundidad por Jorge Alejandro Díaz. - De historiadores profesionales, independientes y grandes maestros por Martha Terán. - De historiadores batallistas por Salvador Rueda Smithers. - Indio, campesino y nación… por Beatriz Lucía Cano. – Crestomanía por José Mariano Leyva

Do citizens of the former Soviet Union trust state institutions, and why?

This study examines trust in political institutions using data from surveys in nine former Soviet countries conducted in 2001 and in 2010/2011. Four hypotheses, micro and macro cultural and institutional, are tested. A measure of generalised trust in state institutions is compared across countries, alongside interpersonal trust, to examine the macro-theories. A multi-level analysis, using both individual variables from the survey, and aggregate variables, such as press freedom, examines the micro-theories. The study confirms earlier findings that levels of trust in state institutions are low in a number of post-communist countries, although levels are increasing in some between 2001 and 2010/2011. The findings support the micro-theories, but unlike previous research that did not use a multi-level approach, they provide support for macro-institutional theory. The time dimension suggests that with committed action to enhance the performance of state institutions governments may be able to improve the levels of trust. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis