100 years of Chatham House: Top ten articles from the 1980s
Editorial Team
In a decade that saw the escalation and eventual end of the Cold War, International Affairs became an important hub of discussion and activity with key policymakers from the major powers either speaking at Chatham House or writing directly for the journal. From high-ranking Soviet economic advisors and senior figures within Chinese Communist Party to some of the most influential figures in US and European foreign policy history, the 1980s saw Chatham House and International Affairs occupy a unique position in international politics. In particular, Chatham House became a focal point for discussion on the future of Europe, with the Cold War and the future of European integration being key themes for the work of the journal and of the Institute during the decade.
1) Lord Carrington on America’s stance on European political cooperation
Lord Peter Carrington (1919–2018) was a senior British politician and Secretary General of NATO. During the Second World War Carrington served as a lieutenant in the British Army with the Grenadier Guards, and participated in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden offensive in 1944. During his political career the Conservative hereditary peer played a significant role in a range of British foreign policy decisions and was Foreign Secretary at the outbreak of the Falkland’s War, over which he resigned in 1982. As Secretary General of NATO from 1984–88 Carrington also worked to prevent war between Greece and Turkey during the 1987 Aegean crisis.
In 1981 as Foreign Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government, Lord Carrington gave a speech to the Foreign Policy Association in New York. The speech was later published in International Affairs.
From the article:
In the 1980s we must exploit these strengths. The fundamental objectives and beliefs of Europe and America will remain the same. We can afford diversity over methods.
2) Henry Kissinger on British and American foreign policy
Henry Kissinger is an American academic and policymaker. Kissinger fled Nazi Germany as a Jewish refugee aged 15, after which he served with the US army during the Second World War. Following a prominent academic career, Kissinger became Secretary of State and National Security Advisor for the Nixon and Ford administrations. In these roles, Kissinger became one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century playing a key role in the thawing in US-China relations and US-Soviet diplomacy. Kissinger has also been heavily criticized for role he played in government during the Vietnam war and in US support for numerous authoritarian regimes that committed genocide and mass human rights violations during his tenure.
In 1982, Kissinger addressed Chatham House on post-war British and American foreign policy:
From the article:
Both Britain and America have learned that whatever their histories, their futures are part of the common destiny of freedom. Experience has taught that moral idealism and geopolitical insight are not alternatives but complementary; our civilisation may not survive unless we possess both in full measure.
3) Galia Golan on Soviet — Israeli relations and the 1982 Lebanon War
Galia Golan is an Israeli scholar, feminist and peace activist. For decades Golan has been a leading Israeli peace activist, holding senior positions in a range of Israeli peace organisations including Combatants for Peace. Golan has also played a pivotal role in a range of feminist organisations including chairing the Lafer Center for Women’s Studies and being a former associate editor of the International Feminist Journal of Politics. Throughout what has been a prolific academic career Golan has written on a range of topics specialising in particular on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the Soviet Union.
In 1982 Golan wrote in International Affairs about the Soviet response to the Lebanon War.
From the article:
The radicalization of the PLO is but one problem Moscow may have to face. A more serious problem may be that the Americans will emerge the winner from the whole conflict.
4) Shridath Ramphal on the role of the Commonwealth
Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal is a senior Guyanese politician who served as Commonwealth Secretary General from 1975–1990. Ramphal held a series of prominent positions within the Guyanese government including Minister for External Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney General. As Commonwealth Secretary General, Ramphal was a prominent opponent of apartheid and advocate for global south countries within the organisation, confronting Henry Kissinger on the fairness of the international economic system and the UK government over its support for apartheid South Africa.
In 1984, Ramphal wrote in International Affairs on the future purpose of the Commonwealth.
From the article:
Due to its own origins, which mandate a fundamental commitment to decolonization, the Commonwealth has a duty to provide moral leadership, even when it cannot provide political muscle, to eradicate the last vestiges of colonialism and its sinister offshoot of apartheid.
5) Zhao Ziyang on China’s foreign policy priorities
Zhao Ziyang(1944–2005) was senior reformist member of the Chinese Communist Party. Zhao rose to political prominence in the province of Guangdong where he played a prominent role in supporting Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward. In the aftermath of this his politics became increasingly moderate until 1967, when he was dismissed from all political positions and publicly humiliated as part of the Cultural Revolution. After working as a fitter for four years, Zhou Enlai dramatically returned Zhao to political power by making him Deputy Party Chief of Inner Mongolia. Under Deng Xiaoping, Zhao became prominent national economic and political reformist, championing economic decentralisation, foreign investment and political transparency. Zhao’s political career ended in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests where his sympathetic stance towards the protestors saw him isolated and placed under house arrest until his death in 2005.
In 1985, as Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Zhao spoke at Chatham House on Chinese foreign policy objectives.
From the article:
China believes that since the maintenance of world peace and the search for co-prosperity are major questions concerning the future of the world and the fate of all peoples, every nation and people should have a say and can make a contribution.
6) Lydia Dunn on the economic future of Hong Kong
Lydia Dunn is a British Politician and Businesswoman. Born in Hong Kong, Dunn has had a prodigious business career holding directorships at numerous organisations. Throughout her political career, Dunn held senior positions within the executive and legislative councils of Hong Kong and became the first ethnically Chinese female member of the UK House of Lords in 1989. During her career Dunn was a supporter of Hong Kong’s continued autonomy from China and was a vocal if ultimately unsuccessful advocate for the people of Hong Kong to have the right of abode in the UK after the territory’s handover in 1997.
In 1985 Dunn, as chair of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, wrote in International Affairs on the future of business in Hong Kong after the Sino-British joint declaration.
From the article:
I believe that China has been willing to agree to the high degree of autonomy it has allowed Hong Kong in the Agreement for very pragmatic reasons. Any reduction in Hong Kong’s usefulness to China would cause these reasons to lose force and would put that autonomy at risk.
7) Helen Wallace on the Britain and the European Community
Dame Helen Wallace is a British academic specialising in European studies and former Foreign Secretary of the British Academy. Wallace has become one of the foremost experts on the UK’s relationship with the EU and on European integration processes. In this capacity she has worked both with the British Civil Service and numerous European political institutions to improve understandings of the UK’s position in Europe. Over the course of her career she has held a range of senior academic roles at institutions throughout the UK and Europe and was director of the West Europe programme at Chatham House.
In 1986 Wallace wrote in International Affairs on Britain’s time as chair of the European Community’s Council of Ministers.
From the article:
This balance will not be easy to strike, given the legacy of resentment from some in the European Parliament at what they see as successive British governments’ disregard for their legitimate aspirations.
8) DeAnne Julius on economic influences on Britain’s foreign policy priorities
Dame DeAnne Julius is an American-English economist. Throughout a varied career Julius has worked for the CIA, was a chair of Chatham House and was a founding member of the Bank of England’s monetary committee. In addition to this Julius has held a variety of senior roles within the private sector, previously working as chief economist at British Airways and Royal Dutch shell as well as having been a board member of Lloyds Banking group, Serco Group and BP amongst others. She is currently a Distinguished Fellow in Global Economy and Finance at Chatham House.
In 1987 Julius wrote in International Affairs on the link between Britain’s economic interests and foreign policy priorities:
From the article:
Britain’s scope for pursuing foreign policy objectives may actually be increasing-but, as argued below, different strategies and skills will be needed to take maximum advantage of the new opportunities.
9) Abel Aganbegyan on Perestroika
Abel Agenbegyan is a Russian and Soviet economist who was a senior advisor to Mikael Gorbachev. Developing a specialism in Soviet mathematical economics, Aganbegyan left a potentially lucrative career within the Soviet state to become an academic economist. Abaganbegyan became a senior advisor to Mikael Gorbachev in which capacity he was a key architect of Perestroika and one of its most vocal proponents. After the collapse of the USSR, Aganbegyan served as the rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy and remains a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 1987, as the policies of perestroika were beginning to be implemented, Aganbegyan spoke at Chatham House on the importance of perestroika.
From the article:
The mould of our economic development and the system of management, created under different circumstances in another age, have been kept in operation up to the present even though some time after the 1950s they ceased to be relevant to the real and growing needs of socio-economic development, to new conditions, new tasks and to social progress in our country.
10) Wolfgang Schäuble on the future of a divided Germany
Wolfgang Schäuble is a German CDU politician and the current President of the Bundestag. Schäuble started his political career as a lawyer before first being elected to the Bundestag in 1972. Over the course of a long political career with the CDU party, Schäuble held a range of senior positions in multiple German governments. Schäuble played a pivotal role in the reunification of Germany as Minister of Special Affairs and close advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, in which capacity he led negotiations between the FDR and DDR that resulted in German reunification.
In 1987, the same year that he organised the first ever visit by an East German head of state to the FDR, Schäuble spoke at Chatham House on the future of relations between the two Germanies
From the article:
Communist systems are by their nature conservative. Change comes only slowly and with difficulty, but it is possible. Wherever we see a chance to facilitate change, we should take it.
We hope you enjoyed this seventh post in our series, ‘100 years of Chatham House’. Every month throughout 2020, the editorial team of International Affairs will be publishing some of the highlights from each decade since the founding of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Read more from the series here.
Find out more about the Chatham House Centenary here.
