Daniel Korski

The future of Tory foreign policy  

David Cameron’s recent visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan received relatively little press attention; showing just how exceptional the amount of coverage that Cameron’s statements on Georgia and trip there garnered were. In his address in Pakistan, Cameron once more set out his ‘liberal conservative’ agenda.

Here’s the key passage of the speech:

“A liberal Conservative approach…recognises that democracy must be built around the institutions, habits and culture of each country. Democracy should be the work of patient craftsmanship and not of a uniform mass production line, if the final product is to be of a quality that endures.”

In other words, states are not built; they develop over time. The role of outsiders is important, but not all-important.

This thought is broadly in line with the foreign policy establishment’s post-Iraq thinking.

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