 First UK edition | |
| Author | Margaret Thatcher |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Politics |
| Publisher | Harper Perennial |
Publication date | 25 March 2002 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Pages | 512 |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-095912-8 |
| ||
|---|---|---|
Secretary of State for Education and Science Leader of the Opposition Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Policies Appointments Articles by ministry and term: 1979–1983 1983–1987 1987–1990 Post-premiership Publications | ||
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Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World is a book on politics and international relations written byMargaret Thatcher in 2002 and was published byHarper Perennial.
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Thatcher, looking at the lessons learnt during theCold War, writes of theUnited States being the only remainingsuperpower and the responsibilities that come with that burden.
She also writes about the dangers inherent in theBalkans given the instability of the region and the rise ofIslamic extremism[1][2].
Contentions made include that there would be no peace in the Middle East untilSaddam Hussein was toppled. Her book also said that Israel must tradeland for peace, and that theEuropean Union was a "fundamentally unreformable", "classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure".[3] She argued that Britain should renegotiate its terms of membership or elseleave the EU and join theNorth American Free Trade Area.[4] The book also reveals that Thatcher had changed her views on climate change from her 1989UN General Assembly address.[5]
The book is dedicated to former US PresidentRonald Reagan.
Bill Emmott, writing in theLos Angeles Times, said, "Europeans, Asians, Latin Americans (exceptPinochet) and Africans simply don't have a chance in Thatcher's eyes. They do not trace back their political and legal values toMagna Carta. They are all, in her eyes, collectivists rather than freedom-loving individuals. It is all the more surprising therefore that having supported British membership of theEuropean Economic Community during the 1970s and having helped to deepen that market during her time as prime minister, she now thinks Britain ought to leave that ghastly grouping, run as it is by bureaucrats and foreigners. To be critical of European countries and of the European institutions is fine: There is plenty to criticise and to change. But in this book Thatcher goes beyond that, arguing in essence that Europe is always to be distrusted because it is full of Europeans and in her lifetime Europeans have always caused trouble."[6]
Francis Maude, writing for theNew Statesman, said, "Thatcher's latest and, she says, last book is not really what it says. Its title suggests a manual for practitioners of statecraft, a sort ofMachiavelli's The Prince for our times. Such practitioners will find Statecraft well worth reading, as will all those with an interest in international affairs, because this is an account of Thatcher's views about the world, its recent histories and what should be done. It is broad in scope, detailed in analysis and, as you would expect, forthright in prescription. And prescription is in plentiful supply."[7]
Michael Collins has written inContemporary Review, "Statecraft is aimed as much at decision-makers in the US as at a domestic readership. In fact fewer than a fifth of the book's magisterial and incisive survey of current world affairs is concerned with the European Union. Most of it is composed of observations derived from meetings with world leaders and briefings from well-placed sources. Lady Thatcher takes a typically no-nonsense approach to the realities of power politics and warns that battlefield nuclear weapons will be used in the foreseeable future. Yet 'since the end of the Cold War' she argues, 'the West has let down its guard'. Two powers came out big winners at the end of the Cold War: the United States andChina."[8]
She later recanted, voicing fears that climate had become a left-wing vehicle.
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