![]() ![]() Like “global Britain”, “geo-liberalism” is a strategically illiterate slogan conjured up from above, and only then thrown to the mandarins of Whitehall to make sense of. “Geo” at minimum refers to time and space, and the frictions, limitations and constraints of geography.īut Truss is the veteran of a government that proclaimed a vision of “global Britain”, that boasted the opposite message, of Britain unleashed from its region, unbounded in its ambition and projecting power everywhere. Indeed, it is not clear what the prefix “geo” adds at all, beyond a frisson of toughness. The word “geo-liberalism” builds in two contradictory concepts, given the notion of liberalism is universal, defying geographical limitation. The architects of the Bush Doctrine had an enthusiasm for a world project that came at the expense of curiosity about the actual world.Īnd the overarching doctrine in its bare outline is incoherent, to put it politely. Her inattention to detail as foreign secretary on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - mistaking the Black Sea for the Baltic - is not encouraging. It is not clear how far Liz Truss has worked through these issues. Will there be sanctions and weapons for Ukraine in the service of any goals Kyiv lays down, or are there conditions and limits, and with what rationale? A US-UK trade agreement would be welcome, but given the imbalance of power between the parties, what trade-offs will be needed? How will Truss react to US agricultural protectionism, a practice that gives trade liberalism a day at the races? A network of liberty at the price of what valued things? More AUKUS deals, but with what industrial policy (a necessity at odds with Truss’s history of laissez-faire economic views)? A hawkish line against Moscow and Beijing, but to what end? With what division of labour with allies? Will it be a two-hemisphere strategy with a one-hemisphere navy? ![]() TRANSFER CLASH OF LORDS 2 ACCOUNT FREEVarious specific parts have been sketched out: a “Network of Liberty” of democratic nations more AUKUS deals a hawkish line against China and Russia sanctions and weapons for Ukraine and a UK-US Free Trade Agreement. If tried, it will likely to suffer a similar fate. The Truss doctrine, then, echoes the Bush doctrine. “She divides the world into friends and enemies of liberty,” is the early report. Aides have, though, briefed that her approach to foreign policy will be “geo-liberalism”. What will be the guiding world view of Liz Truss, Britain’s new Prime Minister? At the time of writing, her time as Foreign Secretary notwithstanding, we don’t know. TRANSFER CLASH OF LORDS 2 ACCOUNT FULLTo get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10. This article is taken from the October 2022 issue of The Critic. ![]()
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