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The social origins of 18th Century British grand strategy: a historical sociology of the peace of Utrecht

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posted on 2023-06-09, 22:12 authored by Benno TeschkeBenno Teschke
This chapter provides a new interpretation of early 18th Century British grand strategy formation, its institutionalisation in the Peace of Utrecht (1713), and its impact on post-conflict 18th C international order from within the discipline of International Relations. The historical argument is that ‘Utrecht’ codified a new and unique type of British grand strategy – the dual ‘blue-water policy’ – for the geopolitical management of European international relations and beyond. It cleaved into a defensive policy towards the Continent, involving the ‘rationalisation’, i.e. de-ideologisation, de-confessionalisation, and de-territorialisation of Britain’s continental objectives, plus the invention and active manipulation of power balancing towards continental rivals; and an offensive policy overseas, expressed in the unilateral pursuit of oceanic mercantile primacy. This strategy was grounded in an altered institutional foreign policy context – the post-1688 ‘revolution in foreign affairs’ – subsequent to constitutional changes in the British polity during the 17th C Revolution. The British peace plan, enacted at Utrecht, constitutes a sui generis phenomenon that cannot be exhaustively captured with prevailing IR concepts, including hegemony, formal or informal imperialism, automatic power-balancing, international society, collective security, or hierarchy. Theoretically, the chapter adopts a historicist method to re-craft attempts within critical International Historical Sociology in the direction of a Historical Sociology of International Politics to escape the structuralist-functionalist trap.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Publisher

Brill - Nijhoff

Volume

31

Page range

120-155

Pages

250.0

Book title

The 1713 peace of Utrecht and its enduring effects

Place of publication

Boston, Leiden

ISBN

9789004266407

Series

Nova et Vetera Iuris Gentium

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Editors

Alfred H A Soons

Legacy Posted Date

2020-11-18

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2021-04-20

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2021-04-20

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