ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book relates to the mechanisms, extent and quality of debate over foreign policy, which is understood throughout to relate to policy during both peace and war. For much of the century, Britain was at, or close to, war, and it is somewhat artificial to distinguish policies during wartime, or linked to the possibility of war, from those of peacetime. The book emerges from the complex political situation of eighteenth-century Britain as a key area of public debate, discussion, aspiration, and even contested public myth. Indeed, part of the challenge in any discussion of Britain's strategic culture and foreign policy is to distinguish, and reconcile, short, medium and long-term factors, attitudes and goals. It is also valuable to use foreign policy as a way to approach the character and operation of Britain as a state and political system in this important period.
