Description
This paper will illuminate a pivotal juncture in human rights history from a fresh perspective by examining the conservative reframing of Britain’s engagement with the international human rights system following the election of Margaret Thatcher in May 1979. Underappreciated within the rapidly expanding historiography on human rights and international relations, the policies pursued by the Thatcher governments both reflected, and contributed towards, the fusion of human rights discourse with concepts of democratisation and free market economics during the 1980s and the increasing weaponisation of human rights within the East-West dialogue. Furthermore, by examining the continuities and divergences between these policies and those pursued by the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan (1974-79), this paper will underscore the strategic and ideological disagreements that have separated Labour and Conservative governments on the question of international human rights promotion, investigate the policy implications of the failure to adequately institutionalise human rights concerns within the British foreign policymaking process, and explore the lasting impact of Thatcher’s ‘neoliberal’ human rights agenda, which, by the end of the Cold War, had put down roots within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
