BOOK: Anna BRINKMAN, Balancing Strategy Sea Power, Neutrality, and Prize Law in the Seven Years' War (Cambridge: University press, 2024). ISBN: 9781009425599, £ 85.00

(Source: CUP)

ABOUT THE BOOK

What is the relationship between seapower, law, and strategy? Anna Brinkman uses in-depth analysis of cases brought before the Court of Prize Appeal during the Seven Years' War to explore how Britain worked to shape maritime international law to its strategic advantage. Within the court, government officials and naval and legal minds came together to shape legal decisions from the perspectives of both legal philosophy and maritime strategic aims. As a result, neutrality and the negotiation of rights became critical to maritime warfare. Balancing Strategy unpicks a complex web of competing priorities: deals struck with the Dutch Republic and Spain; imperial rivalry; mercantilism; colonial trade; and the relationships between metropoles and colonies, trade, and the navy. Ultimately, influencing and shaping international law of the sea allows a nation to create the norms and rules that constrain or enable the use of seapower during war.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Anna Brinkman is a Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London and co-director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies. She is a historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century maritime strategy and international law.