Transatlantic Storms in Anglo-American Relations: How the Alliance Weathers Crises

An authoritative, in-depth study on the character, legacy, and trajectory of the UK-US alliance

After the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, many observers declared the UK-US alliance-often dubbed ＂the special relationship＂--dead. Yet this was hardly the first time the partnership was read its last rites. Indeed, one of its defining characteristics is its resilience in the face of political volatility and geopolitical shifts.

Transatlantic Storms in Anglo-American Relations explains how the world’s most consequential bilateral alliance endures despite countless crises. The book’s contributors trace the roots of the US-UK alliance; analyse the institutionalized pillars of nuclear, military, and intelligence cooperation; and highlight underappreciated aspects of economic and defense-industrial interdependence. Drawing on archival research and interviews, the volume revisits lesser-known strategic flashpoints and reveals how twentieth-century crises tested the alliance without breaking its foundations.

Amid the US rebalance to the Indo-Pacific and Donald Trump’s return to the White House, James and Kennedy provide an essential guide for understanding the character, legacy, and trajectory of the UK-US relationship.

William D. James is assistant professor of strategic studies in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is the author of British Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony (2024).

Greg Kennedy is professor of strategic foreign policy in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London, where he leads the Economic Conflict & Competition Research Group. He is the author of Anglo-American Strategic Relations and the Far East, 1933-1939 (2002) and of over ten other edited volumes on defense policy and strategy.