Anglo-portuguese Alliance-trade Expectations During European Imperial Expansion

The thesis that follows in the next chapters is regarding the Anglo-Portuguesedyad between the17thand18thcenturies. The Western European environment set up ischaracterized by the colonial expansion of Portugal, Spain, France, Netherlands andEngland. The power projection is under the spectrum of Great Powers politics thatproduced a very high hostile and competitive spirit in acquiring new overseas lands thatcould be commercially explored and by consequence translating into state power. Inorder to maximize their state capabilities they all looked at the potential of colonial assetsin hope of giving financial and commercial advantage over any rival. Thus, as for result,the number of wars between these actors is significantly high within the period of200years, however in the historical records one can’t see any conflict between Portugal andEngland in this time period. There were examples of motivations to establish anunfriendly dialogue with English leadership. Take the example of the Portuguese colonialsugar cluster that suffered a setback when England decided to enter the sugar businesswith competitive prices in the major European markets. Moreover, Portugal also couldunlock unfriendly dialogue when it introduced its Pragmatic Laws that emphasized thenational industry recovery where the textile cluster was to be protected from the Englishproducts. This alliance wasn’t a happy marriage, but managed to survive internationaland domestic obstacles over time and resulting in the longest alliance in the History.Thus the main focus of thesis is to try to explain the stable relations of Englandand Portugal when all the main region actors were engaging in wars in order to suppressthe English rising power. Why Portugal didn’t join the mainstream warlike policy? Thealliance factor should also be under consideration for not being very effective since therewere counterproductive periods that put the alliance in grave risk of termination.Moreover, considering the casus bellis of other states that went to war against Englandwith similar background.Then, the purpose of this thesis is to give one International Relations orientedexplanation about this past event and move away, at the same time, from the History scope. All literature available of this event can be found in the archives andencyclopedias of European history where they emphasize on the what? and in this thesis Ipurpose to find the why? by breaking down all the facts into a logical fashion. Moreover,there is also space for extending the dynamism of the suggested theory by giving it onemore case-study and one with different outcome in comparison with the original. I mean,the theoretical framework used in this thesis has for case-study one that has a completelydifferent outcome that the one that I present here. However, that is not the same to saythat the theory doesn’t apply. It not only applies but also extends the usage of the theoryinto new fields giving more solidity to its original argument. Also, the case-study in theoriginal theory’s article regards the20thcentury, where my case study is roughly in the17thand18thcenturies, which gives a wider sense of application. Lastly, I was motivatedto search for alternative ways to make the war/conflict option the most irrational choicein the decision making process. There must be a very strong and logical reason to supportwar as it must have one for peace. Learning to handle with sustainable asymmetry iscrucial for avoid unstable relations. The Anglo-Portuguese relations illustrate suchcondition of asymmetry and the mechanism that could antagonize anarchy in the dyad.As for the method, I present my research under the qualitative appreciation. Byreviewing documents circa those ages until early published and updated manuscripts itwas able to cross evidence based on historical facts, with its interpretations, andtheoretical assumptions. By crossing such information I expect to find viability andcredibility in my research conclusion. The outcome is something that we can’t change:the absence of war between England and Portugal. Then, it is of most importance tounveil the mechanism that allowed such happening when there were little reasons for it.With this research method I expect to find by the end of this thesis that the mechanism ispossible to find and identify all of its stages so that one can extract the main elements ofthe equation and, then, apply into a similar delicate dyad in need of solutions. Thehistorical outcome is undeniable, however to find the process is the main challenge.The results are quite satisfactory when crossing the historical reality with thetheoretical assumptions. This breakthrough should bring new insight of how states canhandle complex interdependence process without resorting to conflict measures. Regarding the structure of the thesis is at it follows. In the first chapter one can findthe introductory thematic for this exercise. In the attentive to describe the Europeanenvironment it creates also the structural part of building the puzzle of this case/study. Ina broad and quick overview of European International Relations, I do highlight theAnglo-Portuguese dyad among all others. Once the pieces are gathered, then the elementsof research will conclude the chapter by stating the argument that I defend in this thesis.Moving on, in the second chapter there will be a theoretical approach to the problem athand. Revolving the literature discussion, one can find the limits of some mainInternational Relations tools and, in the second segment of the same chapter, there ispresented the theory that I find most useful to fully understand the problematic of thecase-study and how to solve it. The following third chapter is a more practical approachunder the scope of trade expectations theory. The two periods of analysis reflect crucialassumptions that fit into the theoretical profile. As for the last chapter, I bring about myconclusions and findings with a personal note regarding future study to be done under theassumptions that I’ve been develop along the thesis.I finalize this abstract by stressing my argument, although follows the samelogical line as the theory that supports it, has a personal input in a different time window.Also, not only emphasize the positive trade expectations outcome but also theintroduction of the specialized products’ clusters of each state involved that can create thesustainable asymmetry. Portugal had different goals of England, where one is trying tokeep what it acquired over time and the other is trying to make way into the top leaders ofthe developed and enlightened world.