Liberalism And Naval Strategy: Ideology, Interest, And Sea Power During The Pax Britannica
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Binding: remains tight; boards - slightly faded.
At the height of British imperial dominance, the doctrine of liberalism and the imperatives of naval power became locked in a profound and often contradictory embrace — a tension that Bernard Semmel's Liberalism and Naval Strategy: Ideology, Interest, and Sea Power during the Pax Britannica chronicles with rigorous intellectual precision. Set against the sweeping backdrop of the nineteenth-century Pax Britannica, the work argues that Britain's command of the seas was never merely a strategic or military achievement, but was deeply intertwined with the liberal ideological currents that shaped its foreign policy, commerce, and national identity. Semmel presents a compelling case that free trade, laissez-faire economics, and the projection of naval power were mutually reinforcing pillars of British hegemony, each sustaining and legitimising the other in ways that contemporaries only partially understood. Drawing on a formidable command of political history, economic theory, and naval affairs, Semmel — a distinguished historian at the State University of New York, Stony Brook — illustrates how ideology was never an abstract luxury but a functional instrument of statecraft. Written with authoritative clarity and analytical depth, this work sits at the crossroads of intellectual history and strategic studies, challenging the reader to reconsider the very foundations of Victorian-era power. For anyone seeking to understand how ideas shape empires, this is an indispensable and quietly unsettling read.
Author: Bernard Semmel
Format: Hardback
Published: 1986, Allen & Unwin
Genre: Military history
Edition: 1st ed.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Binding: remains tight; boards - slightly faded.
At the height of British imperial dominance, the doctrine of liberalism and the imperatives of naval power became locked in a profound and often contradictory embrace — a tension that Bernard Semmel's Liberalism and Naval Strategy: Ideology, Interest, and Sea Power during the Pax Britannica chronicles with rigorous intellectual precision. Set against the sweeping backdrop of the nineteenth-century Pax Britannica, the work argues that Britain's command of the seas was never merely a strategic or military achievement, but was deeply intertwined with the liberal ideological currents that shaped its foreign policy, commerce, and national identity. Semmel presents a compelling case that free trade, laissez-faire economics, and the projection of naval power were mutually reinforcing pillars of British hegemony, each sustaining and legitimising the other in ways that contemporaries only partially understood. Drawing on a formidable command of political history, economic theory, and naval affairs, Semmel — a distinguished historian at the State University of New York, Stony Brook — illustrates how ideology was never an abstract luxury but a functional instrument of statecraft. Written with authoritative clarity and analytical depth, this work sits at the crossroads of intellectual history and strategic studies, challenging the reader to reconsider the very foundations of Victorian-era power. For anyone seeking to understand how ideas shape empires, this is an indispensable and quietly unsettling read.