| ID | 188617 |
| Title Proper | Stalking Horses |
| Other Title Information | the American Influence on British Civil Nuclear Identity, 1946-1956 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Theaker, Martin |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This analysis charts the emergence of a distinct British nuclear culture during the early post-war years and investigates the various forms of influence that the United States exercised on its development. Beginning with a disastrous breakdown of transatlantic nuclear co-operation in 1946, it establishes the true degree of sovereignty enjoyed by Britain’s nuclear engineers as they navigated a new relationship with a senior partner that acted simultaneously as a vital knowledge donor and commercial competitor. The analysis next highlights how competition with Washington’s vast atomic project only magnified the pre-existing appreciation of thrift engrained in British physicists, in turn causing them to develop an institutional self-image that prized nuclear capabilities more for their technical integrity than their political convenience. In this way, Britain’s atomic specialists identified a role for themselves as the spiritual guardians of a technology that was just beginning to embark upon a global journey. |
| `In' analytical Note | Diplomacy and Statecraft Vol. 33, No.1; Mar 2022: p.41-63 |
| Journal Source | Diplomacy and Statecraft Vol: 33 No 1 |
| Key Words | American Influence ; British Civil Nuclear Identity ; 1946-1956 |