Trade, Empire and British Foreign Policy, 1689-1815: Politics of a Commercial State

This new volume examines the influence of trade and empire from 1689 to 1815, a crucial period for British foreign policy and state-building.

Jeremy Black, a leading expert on British foreign policy, draws on the wide range of archival material, as well as other sources, in order to ask how far, and through what processes and to what ends, foreign policy served commercial and imperial goals during this period. The book is particularly interested in the conceptualization of these goals in terms of international competition, and how the contours and contents of this conceptualization altered during this period. Trade, Empire and British Foreign Policy, 1689-1815 also analyzes how the relationships between trade, empire and foreign policy were perceived abroad and how this contributed to an analysis of Britain as a distinctive state, and with what consequences.

This book will be of much interest to students of British imperial history, diplomatic history and international history in general.