Historical Dictionary of British Foreign Policy

Britain has had a foreign office since 1782. Most of its early policies involved protecting British naval supremacy and the trade routes to its empire. Since WW II and the Cold War, Britain has been a secondary power, but with an interest in regional defense and economic organization in Europe. The entries in this dictionary by Neville reflect these changing realities of British foreign policy. The volume opens with a chronology of events from 1702 to 2012. These are fleshed out in an extensive introduction to British history in this time period. The dictionary itself has detailed entries on British prime ministers; foreign secretaries/undersecretaries; both British and foreign diplomats; other foreign figures (such as American presidents who have impacted British foreign policy); and countries, places, and events that have played a role in its history. Other features are appendixes of prime ministers, foreign secretaries, and permanent undersecretaries, with their dates in office, and an extensive bibliography of resources, also arranged chronologically. This would be a useful resource for both students and researchers of British foreign policy. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.

British foreign policy has changed dramatically since the creation of the country’s foreign office, in 1792. This book is an informational starting point for covering more than 200 years of dramatic history. Neville, a research associate of the University of Westminster and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, applies his knowledge of British diplomacy to the creation of this work. The book opens with a list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology listing key historical events, and an extensive introduction. The introduction is a quick synopsis of British history, covering a wide swath of time–including the times when the country was a global power, its position in both world wars, a discussion of the Cold War era, and a glimpse back at 2012. The dictionary provides various levels of additional information about significant people, topics, and places in British foreign policy, with some entries coming in at around 50 words and others closer to 300. For example, the entry for Afghanistan is quite extensive, while the Westland affair, concerning the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is very short. The dictionary concludes with appendixes listing British prime ministers and foreign secretaries, a list of permanent undersecretaries at the foreign office, and a bibliography. This reference on a specialized topic is recommended as a starting point in researching topics related to British foreign affairs and would be a great addition to the humanities collections of most academic and larger public libraries.

This is the fourteenth contribution to Scarecrow’s Historical Dictionaries of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations series begun in 2006 and only the second volume to cover the foreign policy of a specific country. … [T]he Chronology provides useful factual detail to support the Dictionary entries. … Neville recognises the extent of the literature and does provide a useful narrative introduction describing some of the key works listed in the five main chronological sections by which the Bibliography is arranged. … [T]his book is a useful and up to date contribution to the reference literature on British foreign relations. It belongs in any library where modern British history or politics is studied. It could also have a place in a general reference library where there is a need for a factual backdrop to other works on Britain’s relationship with the wider world.