ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the rise of 'the balance of power' concept from a number of angles. It first describes what the common understanding of 'the balance of power' was in this period. It then contextualizes the growth of 'balance of power' thinking in Britain within a specific set of political and dynastic circumstances; the notion of a British task to balance other European powers was particularly useful at a time in which debate about the extent of British involvement in European politics was such a live issue. Contemporary authors, such as Charles Davenant and Daniel Defoe, were keen to show that an interest in the balance of power had always been a fundamental part of good policy, both within Britain and in those states whose statecraft was deemed to be exemplary. Portraying Briton as a balancer was intimately connected to questions of myth and reality in British foreign policy that had become particularly pronounced in the post-Williamite era.
