Defending our values at home and abroad

The fundamental struggle of humanity is about the nature of governance.

When we look at the long arc of history, we can see that this fact is as true now as it has ever been, as we all learnt again on Thursday, 24 February 2022.

On both sides of the Atlantic, we are fortunate to live in societies in which the people get to choose how they are governed and who they are governed by. If you live in the UK or the US, we exist as citizens; that is to say, enfranchised actors, who get to have a say. We have many terms for this, including democracy, and far be it from any of us to claim that the process of our democracies is always perfect. And as citizens, we have to work for it, to perfect it and to be willing to work to improve it to create the type of society we all want to live in. As citizens, that is the role which we get to play.

The alternative to this, is one we see displayed in authoritarian regimes across the world. This model is one in which a small group of people hold power, and they exercise this power over, and often at the expense of, their populations. In these regimes, people do not get to be citizens, but are ruled over as subjects.

We see again and again, across history as well as today, that the desire for agency, to be citizens, is a universal ambition. Across the world, people want to exist with access to justice, free from violence and persecution, and with an ability to live a life which is not unfairly interfered with, in societies where they are allowed to prosper and provide for their families. We see the universality of these ambitions in the bravery of Iranian women taking off their headscarves, in the scale of the 2019 Hong Kong protests and, more than ever, we see this is in herculean Ukrainian effort to defend their country from Russia’s illegal invasion.

And what is just as true as the universality of these ambitions, is that we as nations are better off, more secure, and more prosperous, when people across the world are allowed to realize those ambitions, and when we defend against forces that seek to undermine the rights of free societies. And so today, when UK and US policymakers and citizens look to Ukraine, it is important to understand that the Ukrainians struggle is not merely about land, but about values – our values. If we do not defend our values where they are being challenged today, we will have to defend them closer to home, and at a much higher cost, in the future. That is why, as major democracies and key transatlantic allies, both the UK and the US have to be engaged, and we have to be willing to provide support and to push back on authoritarians who seek to expand their power and territory

In his invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has articulated an ideology of fascism and empire. It is an ideology, in which he claims an intrinsic right to expand the harsh authoritarian state he has created at home, to impose this on another independent, sovereign country. Such ideologies pose a danger to all of us, as we have seen time and again, and as we last saw in Europe in the 1940s. And while we must remain mindful of the risk of escalation in Ukraine, we also do well to remember the lesson from the last major war in Europe, which is that getting our response to the conflict right, and getting it right early, is critically important if we want to avoid emboldening expansionist authoritarians across the world.

When we reflect on the year that has passed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I would argue that we can look back at a record of success. The US and the UK are two of the biggest bilateral donors of military, humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine. Both countries have been at the forefront of rallying allies in Europe and beyond, to support Ukrainians in what can only be described as a heroic defense of their country. As the conflict drags on, we must not lose sight of what is at stake, which is not just the future of Ukraine, but the viability of all of the values we treasure at home; freedom, sovereignty, democracy and citizenship.

Such ideologies pose a danger to all of us, as we have seen time and again, and as we last saw in Europe in the 1940s.

Finally, the tools with which we engage cannot be one-dimensional. Military support and hard power will of course remain important, as we have seen recently with the provision of tanks by the US, the UK and Germany. But advocates who argue that only military support, or indeed only diplomatic interventions and soft power, is the right approach, misunderstand what is required. To support Ukraine, partners like the UK and the US will need to continue to take an integrated approach which utilizes all of the tools available to us. Only by pairing our military support for Ukraine with sustained diplomatic, economic, development and humanitarian support, can we give the brave Ukrainians fighting for the freedom of their country, the best possible chance of victory.