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The Policies and Power of Public Diplomacy: Wilton Park's Road (Routledge Open History)
Author(s): Nick Hopkinson (Editor)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: 16 April 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 500 pages
- ISBN-10: 1032831251
- ISBN-13: 9781032831251
Book Description
This volume examines the higher-level discussions convened at Wilton Park, the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office’s policy forum, since its inception in 1946.
Originally a ‘re-education’ camp after World War II in the principles and practice of democracy, Wilton Park has evolved into a first-class international policy forum and UK soft power asset working in more than 50 countries. Over the decades, senior decision-makers and opinion formers from around the world have advanced and shaped thinking and policies on global issues, including building post-war Germany, transatlantic security, East-West relations, the transition from apartheid in South Africa, the UK’s relations with Europe, European integration, trade, human rights, climate change, sustainable development and health. With unique archival access, this book comprehensively details the discussions which have helped shape post-war Europe and international policymaking, particularly in the UK, US and wider Europe.
The Policies and Power of Public Diplomacy will be of interest to anyone interested in international relations and is essential reading for academics, diplomats, decision-makers and students from around the world.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Product description
Review
“This detailed history of Wilton Park deserves attention beyond just the diplomatic community for two main reasons: for the inspiring story of its German-born founder, Sir Heinz Koeppler, who fought to establish and then sustain an institution to revivify Anglo-German relations after the Second World War; and for the account of the struggle for high-quality debate in the British foreign policy system, when the Treasury saw no need to spend even small amounts of money on it. Both themes bring out the best of the British tradition, rarely matched elsewhere, to argue out the substance of important issues without the constraint of hierarchy or national subjectivism. This is what Wilton Park will always stand for.”
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, i.a. former Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations
“I am delighted a serious history of Wilton Park’s discussions has been written. The sort of events it offers, with privacy giving participants the confidence to step out of their official roles, can make a considerable contribution to the solution of problems, international or domestic.”
Juliet Campbell CMG, i.a. former British Ambassador to Luxembourg; former Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge University
About the Author
Nick Hopkinson is a writer and chair of the Sir Heinz Koeppler Trust. He was acting chief executive, director, report editor, and programme director (EU, global economy and democracy) at Wilton Park, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office’s policy forum, between 1987 and 2010.
