ABSTRACT
A late 1980s series on South Africa’s transition from apartheid marked a watershed in Wilton Park’s institutional evolution. From the mid-1990s, Wilton Park’s judgements on event viability, cost recovery, sponsor interest, and closer alignment with Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) international priorities became increasingly important factors in determining what it addressed. Wilton Park’s value has all too often been judged by its cost. However, measurement by this metric alone does not do the institution justice. Since the mid-1990s, Wilton Park inter alia helped progress European Union (EU) enlargement, democratisation in the West Balkans, and advanced international health partnerships building upon British expertise. Being away from the media spotlight and its remote location helped Wilton Park stage successful discussions, many with policy outcomes, on these and other issues. Its location at Wiston House, a modernised 16th-century country house in West Sussex, was central to delivering successful dialogues. However, as new global power centres emerged and as travel and international communications became easier, from the late 1980s Wilton Park began to convene conferences overseas. Today more than 50 countries have hosted Wilton Park events, a remarkable evolution from the small prisoner-of-war camp in Beaconsfield in 1946
