The Foreign Office, Commerce and British Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century

This book addresses the interface of the British Foreign Office, foreign policy and commerce in the twentieth century. Two related questions are considered: what did the Foreign Office do to support British commerce, and how did commerce influence British foreign policy? The editors of this work collect a range of case studies that explore the attitude of the Foreign Office towards commerce and trade promotion, against the backdrop of a century of relative economic decline, while also considering the role of British diplomats in creating markets and supporting UK firms. This highly researched and detailed examination is designed for readers aiming to comprehend the role that commerce played in Britain’s foreign relations, in a century when trade and commerce have become an inseparable element in foreign and security policies.

Table of Contents:
Introduction.- John Fisher, Effie Pedaliu & Richard Smith.- 1. ‘A kind of black hole?’: commercial diplomacy before 1914..- T. G. Otte.- 2. In pursuit of national security: the Foreign Office and Middle Eastern oil, 1908-39..- Fiona Venn.- 3. The de Bunsen Mission to South America, 1918..- John Fisher.- 4. The Age of Illusion? The Department of Overseas Trade between the two World Wars: three case studies..- Miklos Lójko.- 5. Sir Ronald Lindsay, the British Government and the Reparation (Recovery) Act, 1927–8..- Gaynor Johnson.- 6. Imperial Solutions to International Crises: alliances, trade and the Ottawa Imperial Economic Conference of 1932..- Francine McKenzie.- 7. The Foreign Office, foreign policy and commerce: Anglo-German relations in the 1930s..- Neil Forbes.- 8. Interpreting the ‘New Order in East Asia’: The City of London and British policy towards the Sino-Japanese War, 1937–9..- Antony Best.- 9. British Industry and US-UK Economic Diplomacy during the Second World War..- Thomas Mills.- 10. Power Relations: The Foreign Office, the Board of Trade and the development of civil nuclear power, 1945–70..- Stephen Twigge.- 11. ‘Keeping Her Powder Dry’: Turkey’s commercial ties with Britain in the 1940s..- Aysegul Sever.- 12. The Foreign Office, the Board of Trade and Anglo-Italian Relations in the Aftermath of the Second World War..- Effie G. H. Pedaliu.- 13. Britain and Antarctica: keeping the economic dimension in its place.- Peter J. Beck.- 14. Anglo-Spanish Commercial Relations, 1946–50..- Victor Gavin.- 15. When Strategic Foreign Policy Considerations Did Not Trump Economics: British cold war policies on East-West trade..- Alan Dobson.- 16. The Business of Decolonization: the Foreign Office, British business, and the end of empire in Kuwait and Qatar..- Simon Smith.- 17. The ForeignOffice and Preparing for the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development..- Edward Johnson.- 18. Commerce as a British Cold War ‘Heresy’: the intra-NATO debate on trade with the Soviet Bloc, 1962–5.- Evanthis Hatzivassiliou.- 19. The British Government, the Oil Companies and the First Oil Crisis, 1970–3 Francesco Petrini.- 20. British Policy towards Socialist Countries in the 1970s: trade as a cornerstone of détente..- Angela Romano.- 21. ‘Paying our Way in the World’: the FCO, export promotion and Iran in the 1970s..- Richard Smith.- 22. Thwarting Thatcher: Britain, Nigeria and the Rhodesian crisis in 1979..- William Bishop.- 23. The opening of China and British foreign trade policy 1978–82..- Ed Hampshire.- 24. Commercial Diplomatic Policy and Practice: a practitioner’s perspective..- Sir Roger Carrick

About the Author :
John Fisher is Associate Head of History at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), UK, and the author of several books, including British Diplomacy and the Descent into Chaos (2012). Effie G. H. Pedaliu is Fellow at LSE IDEAS, UK. She specialises in international history; the Cold War; Mediterranean Security; British and American Cold War diplomacy and strategy. Richard Smith is Senior Historian at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, UK, and editor of Documents on British Policy Overseas.

Review :
“This volume provides useful empirical evidence of the dangers of diffusing the oversight of external concerns through multiple competing ministries … . For anyone seeking to understand the immense complexity of commercial diplomacy, and to gain a grasp of the trajectory of this core area of diplomatic activity, this is an invaluable volume, and likely to become a standard work.” (Erik Goldstein, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 55 (2), 2020) “This volume of collected essays on the history of British commercial diplomacy across the twentieth century, edited by three specialists in British foreign policy, is … both extremely timely and very welcome. … Overall, the volume makes an important contribution to the study of diplomacy, with the combined emphasis on the need for a wide range of perspectives on the importance of commercial matters, and the value of multi-archival research.” (Sue Onslow, H-Net Reviews Humanities and Social Sciences, networks.h-net.org, September, 2019)