Diplomacy, Alliances and War: Anglo-American Perspectives on History and Strategy in the September 11th Era
An event co-sponsored by the Clements Center, Strauss Center, and King's College London
November 1 - November 2, 2013 | 8:00 am | AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center
Outcomes of this partnership included global operations against al Qaeda, the war in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. In developing their strategies in the conflict, both governments embraced certain common themes including an emphasis on the need for assertive action, the ideological nature of the terrorist foe, and the promotion of the universal values of human liberty as long-term antidotes to jihadist ideology.
History played a considerable role in shaping these strategies as well. In some dimensions the US and UK drew on common historical precedents, such as World War II and the Cold War, and the personal partnerships forged by past leaders such as Roosevelt-Churchill and Reagan-Thatcher. Yet in other ways each government also drew on different historical precedents and traditions, ones that loom large in one nation’s collective memory but not the other, such as Vietnam for the US, and Suez and Northern Ireland for the UK. More recent ‘lessons learned’ were also created by the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s and tentative interventions in African countries such as Somalia and Sierra Leone. The response of the US and UK to the September 11th attacks, both together and separately, cannot be understood without the role of history. This conference will explore how history shaped the respective responses of the US and UK to September 11th, and consider what perspectives history might offer for policy in the present and future.
CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS
Keynote Remarks – Michael Gerson – November 1, 2013
Keynote Remarks – Melvyn Leffler – November 2, 2013
Panel 1: Historical Memories – Philip Bobbitt, Philip Zelikow, Colin Kahl, Timothy Lynch, Francis Gavin – November 1, 2013
Panel 2: History and Strategy – Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Douglas Feith, Bruce Jentleson, Alexander Evans, Celeste Ward Gventer – November 1, 2013
Panel 3: History, Intelligence, and the Law – John Bellinger, Sir David Omand, Theo Farrell, Mathew Burrows, Robert Chesney – November 1, 2013
Panel 4: History and the Special Relationship – Kurt Volker, James Ellison, Robert Singh, Tom Mahnken, Jeremi Suri – November 2, 2013
Panel 5: Present and Future – Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, Kori Schake, Gary Schmitt, Martyn Frampton, John Bew – November 2, 2013