The decision processes behind the formation of Britain’s wartime policies were an exceedingly muddied affair. Policy outputs represented the intersection of multiple, oftentimes-competing variables, from political to military and from immediate to long-term. There remain unanswered questions that arise from complications, contradictions, and competitions within the British Government’s oftentimes multitrack policies, which hold far-reaching implications to understanding events. The historical understanding of the motivations, aims, and governmental negotiations behind Britain’s policies of support for resistance movements in occupied Yugoslavia during the Second World War serve as a striking example. In coming chapters this thesis will engage in a survey of the archival record exploring what motivations, overarching objectives, and wartime forces influenced the formation and course of British policies towards support of Yugoslav resistance movements. The aim of this thesis is to challenge existing historiographical narratives surrounding Britain’s Yugoslav policies, by considering the forces that shaped government attempts at co-opting resistance forces in occupied Yugoslavia in the light of what Graham Allison has called "the essence of decision." That is, by looking to the British government as a policy arena and examining the 'official mind' and policy community in that context. This will highlight the multiple overlapping forces, both internal and external, that interacted in shaping the evolution of British policy.
In Defence of His Majesty's Government: Understanding the Evolution of Britain's Second World War Yugoslav Policies
Murray, C. (Author). 1 Mar 2023
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy