Balfour and Foreign Policy: The International Thought of a Conservative Statesman

by Jason Tomes

Overview

Arthur James Balfour was British prime minister (1902-5) and foreign secretary (1916-19), a conservative and an intellectual. This is the first analysis of his thinking on a full range of international issues, such as British imperialism, Great Power relations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and the Far East, the First World War, the Russian revolution, Zionism, the League of Nations and, above all, the Anglo-American relationship. Balfour emerges with a distinctively conservative approach to foreign affairs that demonstrates a continuity of belief from his philosophical writings to his political practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521581189
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/13/1997
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Biographical survey; 2. Race, progress, patriotism; 3. Imperialism; 4. Greater Britain; 5. The Franco-Russian challenge; 6. Germany and the War; 7. Anglo-America; 8. The Balfour Declaration; 9. The Russian Revolution; 10. The Far East; 11. The League of Nations; 12. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"Jason Tomes's new study of the international thought of Arthur Balfour...offers a most stimulating survey of a leading Conservative's attitudes to the great issues of British foreign policy. The great merit of the book is its comprehensiveness." Douglas Newton, Journal of Modern History

"The author, who is favourable to Balfour as a statesman and as a man, has clearly delineated both his attitudes to foreign policy and the beliefs which underlay that policy. It is a masterful survey." Contemporary Review

From the Publisher