ABSTRACT
This concluding chapter attempts to draw some generic observations about what the reports on Wilton Park’s conferences show and assess the contribution of Wilton Park as a soft power asset. Many impressions about Wilton Park can be gained from its more than 1,200 reports on its conferences over several decades, upon which this volume is largely based. Wilton Park’s evolving purpose is reflected in the broadening of its subject coverage. Its evolving discussions can be seen as reflecting the consolidation, but more recently relative decline, of the liberal post-war order, in part attributable to backsliding of democratic practice in some Western countries. The timeliness, prescience, and interactive, international, inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional character of the conferences demonstrate their value. Wilton Park conferences have served many purposes which attest to its soft power, including providing education, information and ideas; broadening international understanding; facilitating contacts and building global and bilateral networks; influencing policy development; disseminating ideas through articles and reports; helping meet UK government objectives (but also those of stakeholder governments and partners); and advancing bilateral and multilateral policy processes.
