The Historical Consideration On Britain’s Foreign Decision- Making In Times Of Transition,1689-1763

Since the mid-seventeenth century, Britain’s state expenditure had increased dramatically due to the development of state institutions, the expansion of administrative functions and the proliferation of external exchanges in this period. These in turn put a huge demand on the foreign decision-making structure. According to traditions in England, monarchies decided foreign policies all by themselves. However, after the Glorious Revolution, Britain’s foreign decision-making structure had been going through remarkable changes. The decision-making process was affected by various factors, which led to a great change in the eighteenth century Britain’s political development.Foreign decision-making is a complex process which might be exerted various influence by too many factors. The author concludes three key elements in the eighteenth century foreign-decision making:Crown, Government and Parliament. In this dissertation, the author wants to analyze these three factors’important roles in the evolution of foreign decision-making and reflect their different impacts in the eighteenth century Britain’s political development which laid the foundation for Britain’s further rising. This thesis also wants to describe foreign affairs’impacts on Britain’s domestic politics in return and how these impacts affected the country’s political development.After 1689, England became a constitutional monarchy country in which crown’s power declined rapidly, although the king was still the head of state and had the authority to conduct foreign affairs. Both William III and monarchies from Hanoverian House are Europeans. They had their own strategic designs and interest which were in conflict with Britain sometimes. British monarchies realized that they would achieve their goals more conveniently if they didn’t over-pursue their own object aggressively and minimized their need as a powerful pressure group. The particularity of Kingship made crown’s support extremely important in domestic politics that both government and parliament devoted much attention to king’s demand.Through hundred years of accumulation and development, the modern British government had their own executive power on managing national affairs. There was the Secretary of State to handle international affairs and lots of staff assisting him to deal with whatever in homeland or abroad. Although the collective decision-making institutions like Cabinet appeared in the early eighteenth century, the decision-making authority was still held within a small circle of top-level ministers like the Secretary of State (whether North or South) or the First Lord of the Treasury. Stanhope, Walpole, Townshend, Carteret, Newcastle and Pitt left deep traces on Britain’s foreign policies in the early eighteenth century. All of them had a long political life and had the capacity to control the parliament or cooperate with the king. But as the executive power, they couldn’t hold their position if they had a wrong strategic design or failed to achieve it.Through the dethronement of monarchies, the British parliament gained the supreme power in Britain’s political life after the Glorious Revolution. The certain specificity of foreign policies might cause that parliament usually got overlooked by government or crown in decision-making processes. By using the financial power, parliament approved the treaty and also provided the economic base for Britain’s strategic designs. On the other hand, parliament became a social center as well as a place of business so that parliamentarians were able to exert impacts in many ways other than through their speeches. Both pressure groups and public could express their foreign interests more easily and clearly, which produced an effect on foreign decision-making processes. At the same time, parliament became the final arbiter on foreign policies, which made the legitimacy of foreign policies depend on parliament. All the facts proved that any decision against the majority of parliamentarians would suffer all kinds of obstructions or even might be impeached by parliament.This dissertation offers a closely focused narrative about how crown, parliament and government conflicted and adjusted in the foreign decision-making field in chronological order. This process did not only affect the development of Britain’s political system and political thoughts, but also formed an important reason that made Britain rise in the early eighteenth century. King’s personal views were drawn back into a few interests, which made government could design a whole foreign policy. The existence of parliament did not only provide the financial basis for the government’s diplomatic strategies but also served as a platform for different strategic thinking and an ultimate arbiter. The cooperation between them made Britain’s foreign policies more efficient and cautious, which did not only reflect the national construction and the improvement of Britain’s political system after the Glorious Revolution but also played an important role in Britain’s victory in European wars and colonial expansions in the eighteenth century.