Monday, February 9, 2015
The Special Relationship
1. What does this movie illustrate about the political culture and nature of political leadership in the UK? Give two examples to support your analysis.
2. What insight did this movie give you about the nature of the special relationship between the US and the UK? Does this dramatization differ from the impression you got from the reading? If so, how? If not, how were they similar?
3. Do a little research on how the US-UK relationship changed after Bush became POTUS. How did the relationship change and why? Compare the approval of Blair in 2000 and then in 2007, when he left office and was replaced by Gordon Brown, another Labour PM. What was the difference in approval ratings (cite your source)? Identify and explain two reasons for this change in approval.
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1. The movie The Special Relationship, demonstrates that the political nature of the UK is based on it
ReplyDeleteclose relationship with the U.S. and popularity. An example of UK's close relationship with the U.S. is when Tony Blair
asked President Clinton how to deal with the Northern Ireland crisis. This shows the dominant figure of the U.S
over the UK. Popularity is also shown with Tony Blair using the media to gain his popularity in the U.S and
persuading U.S citizens to support his proposal of ground troops in Kosovo. This act strengthened his position in
the relationship, but strained his personal relationship with Clinton.
2.The movie provided a more intimate and personal example of the relationship between the U.S and the UK. By seeing
how both parties interact and how one dominates the other in real life, it provides a more realistic and relatable
depiction of the special relationship. Compared to the reading, the movie seems a little exaggerative of Clinton's
attidude and dominance, but it does follow the close relationship of the two nations.
3.After Clinton, Blair's relationship with Bush continued to be very close and they seemed to stand shoulder and
shoulder in many international issues. For exmaple, photo and media evidence showed that Blair and Bush were
extremely friendly to each other and backed each other up in times such as 9/11 and different summits discussing
the Iraq situation. However, the close relationship did not help him since his popularity plummeted from 50%
approval rating in 2000 to only about 25% in 2007, which soon led to his eventual departure from the position. The
information was obtained from BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm.
1. The movie The Special Relationship, demonstrates that the political nature of the UK is based on it
ReplyDeleteclose relationship with the U.S. and popularity. An example of UK's close relationship with the U.S. is when Tony Blair
asked President Clinton how to deal with the Northern Ireland crisis. This shows the dominant figure of the U.S
over the UK. Popularity is also shown with Tony Blair using the media to gain his popularity in the U.S and
persuading U.S citizens to support his proposal of ground troops in Kosovo. This act strengthened his position in
the relationship, but strained his personal relationship with Clinton.
2.The movie provided a more intimate and personal example of the relationship between the U.S and the UK. By seeing
how both parties interact and how one dominates the other in real life, it provides a more realistic and relatable
depiction of the special relationship. Compared to the reading, the movie seems a little exaggerative of Clinton's
attidude and dominance, but it does follow the close relationship of the two nations.
3.After Clinton, Blair's relationship with Bush continued to be very close and they seemed to stand shoulder and
shoulder in many international issues. For exmaple, photo and media evidence showed that Blair and Bush were
extremely friendly to each other and backed each other up in times such as 9/11 and different summits discussing
the Iraq situation. However, the close relationship did not help him since his popularity plummeted from 50%
approval rating in 2000 to only about 25% in 2007, which soon led to his eventual departure from the position. The
information was obtained from BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm.
1) This movie illustrates that the political culture of the UK is still very much based on traditional values, as was indicated by dialogue of Tony Blair and his wife in response to Bill Clinton's affair. The UK does not typically get politically involved with other nations with the exception of strong Western powers such as U.S.A., France, and Germany. This is evident by the reluctance of Parliament to get involved in the Serbian conflict.
ReplyDelete2) Both the reading and the movie imply that the policies of the U.S. and the U.K. rarely differ. These two advanced democracies have similar economic and political agendas, and their "special relationship" has spanned over centuries. The movie portrayed Clinton's feelings of betrayal when Blair publicly addressed his desire to get more involved with Serbia.
3) After Bush became president, the relationship between the chief executive of the U.S. and the Prime Minister of the U.K. changed from two individuals trying to preserve world order in their own ways into one man controlling the world order while the other man cheered in the background. Blair's approval rating decreased by about 30% in a span of 7 years after being involved in controversies, including the Hutton inquiry in his second term and being suspected for selling peerages in exchange for party loans in 2006.
"Tony Blair: Highs and Lows." BBC News. BBC, 10 May 2007. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. .
1. The political culture is that they are the little brother of a bigger family of international relationships with the USA as their big brother. The UK leadership will not do anything without the backing of the USA. One example will be the Kosovo conflict, and another example is the Gulf War, where the UK and USA agreed on the same issue and made the stance to tackle the issue in the same way.
ReplyDelete2. No, the special relationship did not differ from the impression one gets from the reading because their economies are tied, their armed forces have bases in each other’s homeland, and the governments have social time every now and then. It reminds a lot of a marriage between people of the same type as both are dominant world powers, and both have the final judgement on international affairs.
3. The relationship changed after Bush became POTUS because of Bush’s War on Terrorism, which started after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 where Blair openly supported his partner on the War on Terrorism. The approval of Blair declined from 2000 to 2007 as the people in his own party did not want to go to war in Iraq with the USA as their major ally. Blair’s approval rating was 93% in the 2000 and dropped to 23, which after Blair resigned and turned it over to Gordon Brown. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm)
1. The movie illustrates that the political leadership in the UK is increasing as we see Blair make decisions without his cabinet. Also the movie illustrates the move towards the center of the political spectrum by both the U.S. and the UK, as demonstrated in the conversation between Clinton and Blair near the beginning of the movie.
ReplyDelete2. I believe both the movie and the readings give me the impression that the U.S. and the UK at the very least during Blair's government and onward attempt to share similar policies and support each other. For example the decision to support Clinton during the scandal, and to support bush during the War on Terror.
3. The Relationship changes when Bush becomes President, because it seems that Blair and Bush support each other fully rather than having disagreements. Unlike the relationship portrayed between Clinton and Blair. Blair's approval rating dropped by about 25% in the span of seven years because of multiple reasons. Two of which are the failure to receive a second UN resolution authorizing in invasion of Iraq, and his insistence on committing British ground troops. Leaving Blair more interested in maintaining the special relationship with the U.S. than caring about his own people. Which led to a rebellion by 139 Labor MPs over military action in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm
1. The movie illustrates the expectation for the political leaders in the UK to run the country as desired by the party. This is what made Tony Blair an admired leader in Britain because he nearly single-handedly change the attitude and mood of the entire Labour Party, as shown by him advocating for his 'Third Way'. Additionally the country was primarily focused on itself, though it is not all out isolationism, as outcries and criticisms were abundant for Blair during the Serbian crisis and British involvement.
ReplyDelete2. The movie demonstrated to me the dependence the two countries had with each other in the perspective of international affairs. Blair had a preference of dealing with the US and Clinton over France and Jacques Chirac. I knew that the US and UK had a close relationship due to strategic reasons (economics, military), I did not expect the relationship to be this close. It differed from the reading because I could not tell the intimate relationship the two countries had that the movie portrayed through the reading.
3. With Bush becoming POTUS, the two countries did not share similar political ideologies, causing the relationship to not be as intimate and close as when Clinton was president. However the two sides were not a total disconnection as Tony Blair and the UK stood by the US's side after the 9/11 attacks. In the case of foreign policy Blair was by the hip with Bush to protect Western Democracy from terrorism, leading to his support in the Iraq War. In 2000 Blair had about a 50% approval rating but that dropped to about 25% in 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm). The biggest reason for this drop is because of the invasion of Iraq in which many UK citizens disagreed with though the US invaded as well. Additionally another reason was the 'Cash for Honours' scandal in 2006. Blair was interview as a part of an investigation of peerages that were 'sold' to wealthy citizens in exchange for party loans. Tony Blair's potential involvement in this situation caused many people to distrust him, thus lowering his approval rating.
1. The movie illustrates the nature of the political leadership is changing as Tony Blair began to have more influence as his popularity increased, making decisions without the parliament. The political culture also changed as the UK is shifting toward the center of the political spectrum under Blair’s Third Way, which is closer to the US ideology and brings the two nations together.
ReplyDelete2. The movie illustrates the special relationship between the US and UK as shown in the relationship between Clinton and Blair as Blair backed Clinton up in his scandal and Clinton helped Blair with his election. The similar ideology of the two brought them together under Blair’s idea of the Third Way. The dramatization differs from the reading because the movie tends to emphasize on the intimate relationship between the two leaders and their common goals in politics. But from the reading, the two did have their own views toward international issues, such as Kosovo and Serbia.
3. The US-UK relationship continued after the Bush became the president. Despite the difference between the two leaders, their cooperative relationship continued as the two leaders backed each other in events such as 9/11 attacks. But the approval rate of Blair dropped from 52% to 27% from 2000 to 2007 which the decreasing approval ratings show his gradual loss of support due to the public opposition of UK going to war with US against Iraq in the Iraq question, thus leading to Blair’s stepping down from the prime minister position. My source is from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm
1. The movie illustrates many things about the political culture of the UK. In terms of governmental structure, it shows the role of the Prime Minister. In the movie, although the Prime Minister plays a major role in the government, he seems to live a modest lifestyle (or at least more modest than that of the President of the US). In the beginning of the movie, Tony Blair visited Europe and promised to not enforce a policy of isolationism as had been done previously. This shows that the Prime Minister has some level of autonomy to establish policy, even though that policy should agree with the views of his party.
ReplyDelete2. According to both the book and the movie, the relationship between the UK and the United States is very close. The dramatization amplified the effect of the relationship (hence "special"), but is not too much different from the truth. The United Kingdom and States share the same origins, language, culture (more or less); they both fought as allies in the two world wars and have been economic/military allies for the past century if not longer.
3. When George Bush became the President of the United States, the special relationship grew even more special. The two leaders supported each other on many matters, such as the war in Iraq, except this time, the people of the UK saw Tony Blair as standing behind POTUS, who was making the decisions. This resulted in Blair's approval ratings to plummet from 52% to 27% from 2000 to 2007. In 2006, Blair announced that he would step down within a year and he did just that.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5322094.stm
1.) The movie illustrates the power held by the prime minister as seen in his ability to make decisions and in a sense "stand on his own" without having to consult the parliament. Another aspect of the political culture of the United Kingdom conveyed in the film are her isolationist tendencies as conveyed in the legislatures lackm of will to get involved in the war in the Middle East and Tony Blair eventual loss in popularity because of such.
ReplyDelete2) The movie proceeded to convey the idea that the relationship between the UK and the US is imperative due to the need for political leaders to have international supporters. This is evidenced in how quickly Blair shifts his relationship from Clinton to Bush implying that the relationship wasn't genuine but rather a political and diplomatic necessity.
3) When compared to the relationship between Blair and Clinton it appears as though Blair and Bush were much more cohesive with one another in terms of support. Blair's support dropped as a result of the public unwillingness to get involved with the war in the Midler East resulting in Blair stepping down from office.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm
This film illustrates the traditional, isolationist, and relatively conservative political culture of Great Britain. An example of this would be the British people and media's reaction toward the Bill Clinton scandal. Another would be Parliament's initial reluctance to fully confront the Kosovo incident. Blair showed that the political leadership became focused on that of the Prime Minister with him enacting his "Third War" and taking an active role on the Kosovo incident.
ReplyDelete2. The film illustrated that the UK and the US did indeed have a special relationship, which is seen in their similar policies and agendas and how they became linked on many issues. In the film, Blair seems to have initially looked to Clinton for advice, and thus his ideology was shaped by the Clinton's views. Later on, he provided support to Clinton in the midst of his scandal. This does differ slightly from the reading in that it displays a much more personal relationship between the two leaders. In seeing, Clinton question Blair of backstabbing him in the American media, the inner-workings of their relationship shows an interesting take on this historical event.
3. A big reason for the change in the relationship between the US and UK was due to the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing war of terror. The US and President Bush took the leading role in fighting terrorism, and Blair pledged his support and followed behind. This unpopular war is one of the major reason for Tony Blair's satisfaction rating falling over 20% from 2000 to 2007. Another possible reason for the fall in ratings was that http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stmBlair was linked in a political scandal in 2006.
1.) The film illustrates how charisma plays a big role in charming the public into gaining support. Blair began to break away from the somewhat isolated UK politics and began to develop a relationship with Bill Clinton, making him look like Clinton's "lap dog". His policies began to reflect Clinton's view of the more left conservative. It shows how other countries can greatly influence the appearence and decision of another big country.
ReplyDelete2. The movie gives a more upfront perspective of how the UK and US are tied to each other, depicting the two leaders as political best friends. Similarly, the reading shows how both the US and UK are economically tied and similar in a lot of ways. Again, it also showed the influence each country had on each other. The decision that a country reaches is not just dependent on internal factors but the external factors as well.
3. It seems that Tony Blair and GWBush were even closer than Blair and Clinton and they shared an intimate "Bromance". Blair seemed to agree with everything that George Bush proposed and did not denounce any major act by Bush. He openly agreed with Bush's decision to declare war on Iraq and even states that Bush can "Count on us (UK)"
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/jan/21/tony-blair-george-bush-iraq
1. The film illustrates the changing role of political leadership in the UK as well as the close relationship between the UK and the US. The changing role of political leadership can be seen with Tony Blair gaining more influence over the people, leading him to make decisions without consulting the Parliament.The growing relationship between the UK and the US can be seen with Blair consulting with Clinton about Northern Ireland.
ReplyDelete2. The film provides insight into the close and dependent relationship between the UK and the US. By showing the inside lives of Blair and Clinton, we are able to see a more personal relationship between the two and how they came to rely on each other in certain situations. Based on the reading, I wouldn't have expected Blair and Clintom to be close friends, just allies that relied on each other. In this aspect, I do think the movie dramaticized the relationshio between the two political figures.
3. Despite the awkward first meeting, Blair and Bush shared a close relationship as well. Compared to Clinton, Blair seems to be closer with Bush (maybe because Blair is a senior now, rather than a junior?)
By 2006-2007, Blair's approval rating dropped, showing 67% of people dissatisfied with Blair.
This movie shows the close knit relationship between the UK and the US. I think the movie demonstrated the UK to kind of have the ‘lower hand’ between the two but it shows how Tony Blair and Bill Clinton developed not only a personal friendship but also a nation wide one between both countries. UK became popular in the US and is still like that to this day with the royalty. Tony Blair used this popularity to his advantage when he sent troops to Kosovo and used his liking by the Americans to approve his idea. The Gulf War was different to the Kosovo one because in this case, the US and UK both agreed on the same ideas but Clinton did not agree fully with Blair on Kosovo.
ReplyDeleteThis movie helped me understand the relationship between the US and the UK a lot more than the book did only because I am more of a visual person and a movie did a better job of portraying these ideas. I dont think the movie and text book described anything different though, they both gave off the same information and both were beneficial in their own ways. I do believe that the movie gave off a lot more of an emotional relationship between the two countries which might have caused a different perspective to some but that is what movies and media do, they exaggerate things to make it more interesting to people.
After Bush became POTUS the US and UK relationship slowly went down. The UK started to dislike the US and not agree with their ideas on 9/11, terrorism and the Iraq war. Blair was a lot more liked in 2000 than in 2007 his approval rates dropped almost half, they were about 50% and then dropped to 25%. I think this happened when he left office and the ‘special relationship’ became less of a big deal. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm.
1. The movie showed the increasing political leadership in the UK. An examples of this is when Blair makes independent decisions without the consultation of his cabinet. The movie also showed how the US and the UK both became more moderate, shifting towards the center. An example of this is when Clinton and Blair discuss at the beginning of the movie.
ReplyDelete2. The movie gave insight about how close the relationship between the US and the UK is. The dramatization conveys mostly the same ideas as the book, but it shows the personal relationship between Blair and Clinton which reinforces the closeness between the two nations.
3. The relationship between the US and the UK faded a bit when Bush became president, mostly due to differences of opinion on issues regarding the Middle East such as the Iraq War and war on terrorism. Blair's approval ratings in 2007 were half of those in 2000, dropping from 50% to 25%. Two reasons his approval ratings fell are that he went against the public when he supported the war against Iraq, and also due to his personal scandal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm.
1. UK political culture was still very conservative at the time, and Blair altered the course by introducing multiple reforms that encouraged a welfare state. With the US influence in mind, Blair created a “Third Way” that redefined New Labour political leadership. The Northern Ireland conflict and the Middle East struggles in Serbia are examples that illustrate his unconventional approach.
ReplyDelete2. The movie portrays the US-UK relationship as something that is more personal which links Clinton and Blair together. The dramatization differs slightly from the reading, as the book pushes more for the impression that Blair acted out on the politico-social needs for Britain; it was not so much wanting to be like Clinton as it was that Britain was in dire need of reform.
3. During Bush’s time as POTUS, the US-UK relationship continued to improve as Blair attended the emergency meeting after the 9/11 attacks and willingly aided Bush in the Iraq War despite disapproval back home. Near the end of his time as PM, Blair faced opposition within his own party because the British criticized him as undoubtedly following Bush and supporting his moves. The decision to fully commit to efforts during the Iraq War dropped approval ratings because the public felt like it was not their war and they were merely backing up Bush. Another incident that changed approval is the rejection for the proposal of anti-terror laws, which seemed too radical for the Labour Party. (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm)
The movie showed Britain as traditionally isolationist and conservative, but in the process of changing. Britain's isolationism was evidenced by the huge outcry over Blair's suggestions to intervene in the Serbian conflict. But, their support for Blair's 3rd Way shows the country's changing attitude towards politics.
ReplyDeleteThe movie showed that the "special relationship" between the US and the UK stems from their similar interests and goals. However, there was definitely a lot of creative interpretation on the part of the writers, especially regarding each leader's private conversations.
The special relationship between the US and the UK continued under President Bush, and it was even strengthened by the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and July 7. However, Blair's increasingly controversial reactions to the attacks, such as entering the war in Iraq, led his ratings to plummet from highs of over 70% near the start of his political career, to about 25% when he announced his resignation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4717504.stm