Jonathan Swift, Sir William Temple and the international balance of power

Gertken, Matthew Charles

Jonathan Swift, Sir William Temple and the international balance of power

dc.contributor.advisor	Rumrich, John Peter, 1954-
dc.contributor.advisor	Hedrick, Elizabeth A.
dc.creator	Gertken, Matthew Charles	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-02-03T17:46:37Z	en
dc.date.issued	2013-05	en
dc.date.submitted	May 2013	en
dc.date.updated	2014-02-03T17:46:37Z	en
dc.description	text	en
dc.description.abstract	This dissertation investigates the balance of power theory of international relations in the works of Jonathan Swift and his mentor Sir William Temple. Both Temple and Swift are known to have championed balance-of-power foreign policy, yet no sustained study of the subject exists. To begin, I argue that Temple used balance as a metaphor for division or separation. His policy of preserving the “Balance of Christendom” translates to sowing division among European states, and for the same reason he rejects balance of power at home. Proceeding to Swift, while commentators have long known that he advocated the classical theory of constitutional balance, they have neglected his engagement with international balance. Swift assimilates Temple’s positions into a universal theory based on classical authors; he sees balance of power as an element in the broader quarrel of ancients and moderns. The ancient view posits an independent agent who operates within the constraints of a system; the modern, by contrast, either exaggerates agency to the point of divine-right absolutism or minimizes it to the extent that only an impersonal, clockwork-like system remains. In both cases, the moderns pursue material power at each other’s expense, neglecting the intangible benefits of due separation. This theory has important ramifications for Swift’s international writings. For years scholars have emphasized Swift’s conspiracy theorizing in the Conduct of the Allies, but I argue that he discredits the Whig war cry of “Balance of Europe,” which sought military power (the balance of forces) as an end in itself, and reasserts balance as a policy of slicing Europe into as many separate kingdoms as possible. Ultimately, however, Swift’s most lasting contribution appears in Gulliver’s Travels. Here he depicts maritime power as the quintessential means by which moderns pursue absolute power, and intimates a political “Balance of Earth” as a satirical correction. This study, the first to focus on the international dimension of Swift’s political theory, offers a corrective to literary studies that favor domestic politics and yields insights into the evolution of balance-of-power theory and the intersection of culture and foreign policy at the dawn of the British empire.	en
dc.description.department	English	en
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/2152/23023	en
dc.language.iso	en_US	en
dc.subject	Jonathan Swift	en
dc.subject	Sir William Temple	en
dc.subject	Balance of power	en
dc.subject	Gulliver's travels	en
dc.subject	Conduct of the allies	en
dc.subject	Restoration	en
dc.subject	Political satire	en
dc.subject	Literature and war	en
dc.subject	Realism	en
dc.subject	Neo-realism	en
dc.subject	British Empire	en
dc.title	Jonathan Swift, Sir William Temple and the international balance of power	en
thesis.degree.department	English	en
thesis.degree.discipline	English	en
thesis.degree.grantor	The University of Texas at Austin	en
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral	en
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy	en