Institutionalization, path dependence and the persistence of the Anglo-American special relationship

Abstract

One of the remarkable phenomena in post‐Cold War world politics is the persistence of the Anglo‐American special relationship (AASR) in spite of recurrent announcement of its death by pessimists. Current scholarship on Anglo‐American relations largely draws on interests and sentiments to explain the persistence of the AASR, ignoring other important contributing factors such as institutionalization. This article is the first to give serious consideration to the role of institutionalization in influencing the persistence of the AASR. By using the concept of path dependence, this article argues that the high‐level institutionalization in Anglo‐American intelligence, nuclear and military relations plays a seminal role in contributing to the persistence of the AASR in the post‐Cold War era. The institutionalized intelligence relationship is exemplified by the relationship between the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US's National Security Agency (NSA), which is underpinned by the UKUSA Agreement. The institutionalized nuclear relationship is exemplified by a variety of Joint Working Groups (JOWOGs), which is underpinned by the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement. The institutionalized military relationship is exemplified by routinized military personnel exchange programmes, regular joint training exercises and an extremely close defence trade partnership. The high‐level institutionalization embeds habits of cooperation, solidifies interdependence and consolidates mutual trust between the UK and the US in their cooperation on intelligence, nuclear and military issues.

Beyond Values and Interests: The Anglo-America Special Relationship during the Syrian Conflict

“…In addition, some scholarship has configured the relationship as "Lazarus like" (Marsh & Baylis, 2006) for its continuities in bridging a Transatlantic-European divide. Others have underscored the path dependent nature of the AASR in which intelligence, nuclear and military matters have become institutionalized (Xu, 2016;Schmidt, 2005).…”

British strategy and outer space: A missing link?

“…As expansive as the US intelligence and military machine is, it is not without its gaps that Britain could seek to fill. Most states that possess nuclear weapons have also developed an independent ability to launch spy or EO satellites-but not Britain, which has 'outsourced' it to the United States within the highly institutionalised intelligence and nuclear special relationship (Xu, 2016(Xu, : 1212(Xu, -1222. The United Kingdom's operationally independent nuclear deterrent relies upon American satellites to provide targeting data (Norris, 2008: 158).…”

“…Transatlantic security generates significant debate (Blagden, 2015;Dobson and Marsh, 2014;Dunne, 2004;Epstein, 2015), but its consequences for spacepower remain unexamined. While it waxes and wanes, the institutionalised US-UK relationship is arguably extremely durable owing to its Lazarus-like quality (Marsh and Baylis, 2006;Xu, 2016). However, like the relationship as a whole, an overwhelming British dependency on the United States in space may not always provide strategic returns for the United Kingdom (Dumbrell, 2009: 77).…”

The Anglo-American military relationship: Institutional rules, practices, and narratives

“…It has been driven forward by the British armed forces, despite their position as the junior partner with the US military. This theoretical contribution builds upon the work of Xu (2016Xu ( : 1210Xu ( -1211) who utilised historical institutionalism to argue that path dependency had led to predictable behaviour between the US and the UK and the creation of mutual trust. We argue that institutionalism can be found in various aspects of the Anglo-American security relationship -nuclear, intelligence, homeland security -and each has its own characteristics and particular set of cultures, but for the purposes of this article we concern ourselves only with the conventional military relationship.…”