Power and stability in British foreign policy, 1865-1965

• Published in: Diplomacy and statecraft 2003-06, Vol.14 (2), p.1-22
• Main Authors: Goldstein, Erik, McKercher, B.J.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Balance of Power; Europe; Foreign Policy; Great Britain; History; International Relations; Nineteenth Century; Political science; Political stability; Politics; Power; Trade; Twentieth Century; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 0959-2296

Even before 1865, it was an axiom that British foreign policy was designed & pursued to ensure international stability. Stability not only gave security to the British Isles & to its global empire; it minimized disruptions to trade & commerce -- the lifeblood of "Great" Britain. In the century after 1865, the pursuit of international stability remained at the heart of diplomatic initiatives supported by capable armed forces & a strong economy. The grand strategy by which successive British governments endeavored to achieve these national & imperial ends involved the maintenance of a balance of power -- both in Europe & in the wider world where the protection of British interests in the form of prestige, markets, strategic outposts, & lines of communication preoccupied cabinets, the Foreign Office, the service ministries, other departments of state, &, sometimes, public opinion. In one sense, there were a number of individual balances of power -- in Western Europe, in the western & eastern Mediterranean, in the Western Hemisphere, in South Asia, & in the Far East & Pacific Ocean. In the British diplomatic parlance of the late 19th & early 20th centuries, these balances were represented as "questions," like the "Eastern Question"; the answers to these questions combined in the minds of those responsible for British foreign policy as representing a global balance of power. In this context, the European balance of power had decided importance because any continental disequilibrium could imperil the security of the home islands, the center of the empire, & the well-being of GB's people & economy. Adapted from the source document.