Domestic politics and the escalation of commercial rivalr: Explaining the War of Jenkins’ Ear, 1739–48

Abstract

The study of international rivalry is a thriving research program in international relations, but it focuses primarily on strategic rivalries and generally neglects both commercial rivalries and the impact of domestic politics. We examine commercial rivalry and the causal paths through which it can escalate to war. After identifying alternative theoretical explanations, we focus on the Anglo-Spanish rivalry of the 1730s and the processes through which it escalated to the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739–48). We examine both balance of power and dyadic trade rivalry explanations, and then give special attention to domestic politics in Britain. We argue that the commercial rivalry was a necessary but not sufficient condition for the war of 1739. The Walpole ministry was opposed to war, and the rivalry would not have escalated in the absence of domestic pressures from mercantile interests, a xenophobic public, a politically opportunistic parliamentary opposition, and a divided cabinet.

Interest, passion, (non)recognition, and wars: a conceptual essay

“…As for the colonial wars, often attributed to economic interests or social imperialism (the desire to assuage popular aspirations), they imply a disregard for the subjected populations. Patricia T. Young and Jack S. Levy believe that the War of Jenkin's Ear (1739-1748) between Great Britain and Spain would never have happened without the presence of a possibly xenophobic public coupled with the offense that the severed ear of Captain Jenkins (by a Spanish captain) caused to British officials (Young and Levy 2011).…”