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Decolonising the special relationship: Diego Garcia, the Chagossians, and Anglo-American relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2012

PETER HARRIS
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Abstract

In this article, I challenge the prevailing concept of the UK-US ‘special relationship’ with a view to improving the concept as an analytic tool for researchers. As it stands, the special relationship draws attention to an uncommonly close bond between two state actors in the post-Second World War period, especially in terms of military cooperation. This conception imposes analytic costs – namely, an elision of imperialism as a feature of Anglo-American relations and a concomitant marginalisation of subaltern social actors. In response, I propose a reconception that posits the subaltern – third parties – as integral to the relationship, thus better capturing the empirical reality of Anglo-American relations past and present. Theoretically, I draw upon postcolonial International Relations scholarship and recent theories of friendship in international politics. Empirically, I present a case study of the US military base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.

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Articles
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , July 2013 , pp. 707 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 2012 

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References

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55 Ibid.

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57 Ibid., p. 673.

58 The concept of externalities is commonly deployed in the study of economics.

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75 Robbie Shilliam makes a similar point about the conception of an Atlantic regional system in IR. Shilliam argues that Western conceptions of an Atlantic community rest upon a forgotten history of imperialism and particularly the slave trade, much as I argue that the narrative of a special relationship rests upon an unmentioned imperial past. See Shilliam, , ‘The Atlantic as a Vector of Uneven and Combined Development’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 22:1 (2009), pp. 69–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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82 See, especially, Paragraphs 5 and 6 of ‘UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples’ (1960). See also ‘UN General Assembly Resolution 2066, “Question of Mauritius”’ (1965).

83 Rais, The Indian Ocean, pp. 80–6.

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85 Gifford, ‘The Chagos Islands’, p. 5.

86 Richard Edis, a former Commissioner of BIOT, writes that ‘it is interesting to note that other names for the new territory were considered but discarded, including Limuria’. See Edis, , Peak of Limuria: The Story of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago (2nd edn, London: Chagos Conservation Trust, 2004), p. 80Google Scholar.

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88 Sir Paul Gore-Booth quoted in Vine, Island of Shame, p. 91, emphasis in original.

89 Vine, Island of Shame, p. 90.

90 Ibid., p. 92.

91 Ibid., pp. 112–15.

92 Allen, Stephen, ‘Looking Beyond the Bancoult Cases: International Law and the Prospect of Resettling the Chagos Islands’, Human Rights Law Review, 7:3 (2007), p. 480CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also Snoxell, David, ‘Anglo/American Complicity in the Removal of the Inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, 1964–73’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 37:1 (2009), pp. 130–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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95 Anthony Aust quoted in Vine, Island of Shame, p. 92, emphasis added.

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97 Vine, Island of Shame, p. 6, emphasis in original.

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99 See, for example, Wallace and Phillips, ‘Reassessing the Special Relationship’, p. 272.

100 Vine, ‘War and Forced Migration’, p. 133.

101 Quoted in The Guardian (1 September 2000).

102 Quoted in The Telegraph (4 November 2000), available at: {http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/1373127/Banished-islanders-win-right-to-go-home.html} accessed 27 June 2012.

103 See in particular Articles 9(1) and 9(2) of the British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004. In explaining his action to exile the islanders via Royal Prerogative, then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is reported to have admitted to ‘sacrificing legitimacy for speed’. See Le Mauricien (20 January 2012), {http://www.lemauricien.com/article/ministers-recognise-injustice-done-chagossians-it%E2%80%99s-time-action-not-words} accessed 27 June 2012.

104 Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, Seventh Report (18 June 2008), para. 45.

105 The Guardian (2 December 2010), {http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/03/wikileaks-cables-diego-garcia-uk} accessed 27 June 2012.

106 The Times (1 November 2008).

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109 Gifford, ‘The Chagos Islands’, p. 5.

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112 Officials have privately expressed their lack of regret for the exile of the Chagossians, seeing their treatment as justified in the context of security concerns. See The Guardian (2 December 2010), {http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/207149} accessed 27 June 2012.

113 Quoted in The Guardian (22 October 2008), {http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/22/chagos-islanders-lose} accessed 27 June 2012.

114 Vine, Island of Shame; Jeffery, Chagos Islanders; Evers and Kooy (eds), Eviction from the Chagos Islands.

115 Berenskoetter, ‘Friends’, p. 648.