商品簡介
The first British ambassador to Turkey, then the Ottoman Empire, was sent in 1583 by Queen Elizabeth I and by the Levant Company, which had been granted a monopoly on trade between the two countries. Berridge (international politics, University of Leicester, emeritus) traces all aspects of the embassy from its establishment to 2008 in this interesting study of over three hundred years of international relations. The first part of the book describes different aspects of embassy life from the buildings themselves to their occupants: ambassadors, their families, servants and officials and outlines their evolution over the centuries. The role of the dragomans is the topic of another chapter as well as that of the consuls. Anecdotes about the lives of the British add to the narrative. The first half ends with the early problems in communicating between Britain and Turkey, ending with the excitement of the installation of the telegraph. The second section looks at the role of the embassy in the twentieth century, especially during the transition from empire to nation under Ataturk. The role of the embassy is told from its role in promoting British trade to being a cover for British spies. This is a fascinating story of the vagaries of diplomacy, particularly relevant in the light of the current debate over the admission of Turkey to the European Union. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
作者簡介
G. R. Berridge, Ph.D. (1978) in Politics, University of Durham, is Emeritus Professor of International Politics at the University of Leicester and a Senior Fellow of DiploFoundation. Among the most recent of his numerous publications on diplomacy is Diplomacy: Theory and Practice (Basingstoke (Hampshire) and New York, 2005).
