영국과 이라크 전쟁:영미 특수 관계와 블레어 수상의 리더십

초록

The decision by Tony Blair’s Labour government of the UK to send troops to Iraq, sided with the US, to remove Sadam Hussein from power triggered strong opposition from majority of British people and invited a flurry of criticism from within his own party, ultimately leading to intense pressure on him to resign early from premiership. The UK’s approach to Iraq problem is a puzzling one in that it is not only completely at odds with policies of other European countries with equivalent level of power such as France and Germany, but also contradicts the tradition of pacifism long held by the Labour Party. Broadly speaking, there are two modes of explanation for that: the one drawing on the notion of special relationship between the UK and the US, and the other focusing upon leadership style of Tony Blair. Upon a close scrutiny, while it turns out that both perspectives provide convincing argument with a plenty of evidences to back them up, neither is yet to make cases strong enough to repudiate the other explanation and to lay a sole claim on explanatory power.

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