BRITISH-AMERICAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP:
GLOBAL AND REGIONAL COMPONENTS
Makhir KHALIFA-ZADEH
Ph.D. (Political Science),
research associate, International Ecological and Energy Academy
(Baku, Azerbaijan)
he lightning counter-terrorist operation in Af-
ghanistan carried out under the U.S. aegis in
the wake of the tragic events of 9/11 demon-
strated beyond a doubt the special importance of
the British-American strategic partnership and its
stability. The U.K. actively supported the United
States in Afghanistan and in Iraq in March 2003.
By their actions the sides confirmed the partner-
ship’s key role in shaping America’s foreign and
defense policy and ensuring its security; they dem-
onstrated that London and Washington could co-
ordinate their foreign policy moves and wage a war
in any geopolitical region independently and on
their own.
It should be noted that their close foreign
policy and military cooperation is based on
long-term bilateral cooperation. According to
political analysts, consistent bilateral coopera-
tion, a product of several decades, serves as a
solid foundation for the sides’ “special rela-
tions,” which, in turn, give rise to the sides’
mutually complementary policy. The present
developments show that these close ties have
created a unique and successful political phe-
nomenon—the British-American alliance—the
influence of which will probably rise to the fore
in global politics.
The U.S. and U.K. efforts to settle some of the
international crises and their recent “blitzkrieg” in
Iraq show that with the Eastern bloc out of the way
this alliance is capturing the leading positions in the
world and is claiming the role of a global policy-
maker. The scope and the impact of the alliance on
European and world policies are assuming strate-
gic importance.
The very fact that in the post-communist era
the United States supported by Britain is active-
ly extending the zone of its political control in
Europe and Asia demonstrates that the alliance
is acquiring fundamental and policy-forming in-
fluence in the world and in geopolitical regions
(the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia among
them).
Anybody wishing to assess the alliance’s
impact on the U.S.’s policies and strategy should
pay particular attention to the European and global
components of the alliance’s policies. This approach
offers a more correct appraisal of the political situ-
ation in such complex geopolitical regions as the
Southern Caucasus and Central Asia.
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