Winston Churchill's place in modern history is assured. As a
statesman and world leader, he towers above his contemporaries. As
a historian, his reputation is equally secure. But little attention
has been given to Churchill's stature as a political theorist, to
the ideas and principles that he developed, tested, and followed
throughout his long career as a soldier, military correspondent,
politician, world leader, and author. Winston Churchill's World
View is a study of the underlying principles and goals that shaped
the actions of one of the most influential men of our time. Kenneth
Thompson traces the genesis and elaboration of Churchill's views
from his youth at the fringes of the British Empire through his
rise as a politician, his years of determined struggle and final
triumph as the prime minister of England in its darkest hour, and
the time of reflection that followed his departure from his active
political life. Thompson works closely with Churchill's writing to
identify and assess his concepts of power, authority, politics, and
diplomacy, as well as his thoughts on international organisation
and law, collective security, and practical morality. Churchill
firmed believed that an effective foreign policy must be based on a
set of well-defined but flexible organizing principles. ""Those who
are possessed of a definite body of doctrine and of deeply rooted
convictions,"" he wrote in the first volume of his history of World
War II, ""will be in a much better position to deal with the shifts
and surprises of daily affairs."" It was the lack of such a set of
principle, Churchill contended, that led the Allies into the
conflagration of World War II and that in the postwar era
threatened to bring about an even more destructive conflict between
the West and the Soviet Union. Churchill's own plan to avert that
peril, Thompson shows, was based on the twin pillars of diplomacy
and strength. He insisted that peace must be negotiated. But only
could a lasting settlement be concluded, a settlement that was not
based on weakness and fear. Churchill's political philosophy was
rooted in his own experience and in an awareness of the course of
man's history. It is a perspective at odds with prevailing
viewpoints, based not in history, but in a shifting tide of facts
and statistics, and with the current perception of a world with
problems too complex and numerous to be solved through the simple
application of doctrine and conviction. But this complex age,
Thompson argues, is one sorely in need of the lessons of history
and the wisdom of experienced statesmen. With this study, Thompson
demonstrates the relevance of Winston Churchill's views to the
present world situation, and shows the current need for a steady,
principled, pragmatic approach to maintaining world peace.
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