The Foreign Service Journal, April 2017

24 APRIL 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Both Europe and the United States have a vital stake in preserving and improving the trans-Atlantic relationship. THE TRANS-ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP The Rt. Hon. Lord Campbell of Pittenweem CH CBE PC QC was the Liberal Democrat member of Parlia- ment for North East Fife, in Scotland, from 1987 until he stood down in 2015. During that time he was his party’s principal spokesman on foreign affairs and defense. He was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in 2003 and served as its leader from 2006 to 2007. In the House of Commons he was a member of the Trade and Industry, Defense and Foreign Affairs Select Committees, and also served on parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee between 2008 and 2015. From 2010 to 2015 he led the United Kingdom delegation to the NATO Parliamentary As- sembly, of which he remains a member. T he guiding lights for my approach to foreign affairs have been United Kingdommembership in the Euro- pean Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organizaion, support for the United Nations and a profound belief in the trans-Atlantic relationship. These principles have been comple- mentary and mutually reinforcing. They have their roots in the recognition that a rules-based sys- tem provides the most effective means to preserve and promote peace and security. A rules-based systemmay seem perfect in conception, but less so in practice. Still, history teaches us that the alternatives are less effective. FOCUS ON U.S. – EUROPE RELATIONS Out of the ashes of the Second World War a new order was established, comprised of Bretton Woods, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, and other international organizations. The purpose was to thwart nationalist ambition, to foster cooperation, and to achieve and sustain postwar reconciliation and reconstruction. Or, to put it another way, the goal was to identify and prevent the causes and the consequences of conflict. Have the members of these institutions always met the obli- gations incumbent upon them? Of course not; because even in a perfect world, if such existed, national interests would never be entirely subordinate to supranational agreement. But the obligations and the inherent values that these institutions and relationships embraced have provided a benchmark against which citizens could measure the performance of their govern- ments and signatories could judge their fellows. We should not hesitate to describe these institutions and their values as liberal. Nor should we hesitate to recognize that without them our world would have been less secure. Brexit and New Challenges But now we face challenges of an entirely different nature, reflecting the disillusionment and even discontent many citizens feel toward governments which, both in their domestic policies and internationally, have acted in accordance with the obliga- tions these organizations and relationships impose. The unexpected outcome of the so-called Brexit referen- BY MENZ I ES CAMPBE L L