William James' review of "Rival in Arms"

Dr William James has written a review of Alice Pannier's Rivals in arms: the rise of UK–France defence relations in the twenty-first century. His review is published in International Affairs (Vol. 98, No. 2, March 2022).

 Extract

Publishing a book after 2016 that describes the Franco-British relationship as ‘special’ would likely be described by Yes Minister's Humphrey Appleby as ‘very courageous’. The United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union has already posed significant challenges for defence integration and industrial cooperation. For its part, France often took the hardest line during the negotiations, whether over satellites or fishing. Surely, then, cross-Channel tensions over Brexit have seeped into the bilateral relationship and jeopardized the nascent progress on defence cooperation? Not so, argues Alice Pannier in this important new study on the Franco-British alliance.