First published in 1977, this study offers a comprehensive, systematic and integrated survey of the important relationship between navies and the making and execution of foreign policy. Ken Booth explains the functions navies can perform in both war and peace, the influence they have on particular situations, and how the relevant organisations can affect the character of naval actions. Ultimately, navies are regarded as indispensable instruments of the state by a number of countries, whilst all countries with a coast find some need to threaten a degree of force at sea. This book provides students and academics with the intellectual framework with which to assess the changing character of the navy.

Law, Force and Diplomacy at Sea, first published in 1985, is one of the few comprehensive treatments on the subject from a strategic perspective. It offers a detailed strategic analysis of the background and outcome of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, and its naval implications. The interplay between the interest of the naval powers in freedom of navigation and the interest of coastal states in control provides the setting for the strategic problems. The sea is taking on more properties of the land: it is becoming ‘territorialised’, and this is presenting fresh challenges and opportunities to which navies and their national governments have to respond. This study is designed for students of naval strategy, for international lawyers and for students of international affairs who wish to think about the important security questions in the maritime environment.

This book offers a detailed investigation of naval diplomacy, past and present, and challenges the widely accepted Anglo-American school of sea power thought. Despite the acknowledgement of the importance of the threat or use of force in the pursuit of policy since the dawn of strategic thought, the utility of seapower in operations other than war is poorly understood and articulated. Theorists have invariably viewed seapower in peacetime through the lens of hard power effects such as coercion and deterrence. Commentaries on engagement, interoperability and the forging of friendships are largely conspicuous by their absence. This book considers how all these strands of international politics can be better understood for use in the 21st century. The book explains and defines naval diplomacy, with existing theoretical frameworks being critically analysed. It reviews over 500 incidents from the post-Cold War era, drawing on this empirical evidence to determine that naval diplomacy remains a potent means of 21st century statecraft. It finds that existing understanding of naval diplomacy is insufficient and offers an alternative model, drawing on basic communication and stakeholder theories. The implications of the book relate directly to national security: naval deployments could be more effectively targeted; foreign activity at sea could be better understood and, if necessary, countered; finally, the ability of non-state actors to support national interests from the sea could, potentially, be better harnessed. This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, maritime security, strategic studies and International Relations.