Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

etween 1971 and 2000, Cable identified the nature of gunboat diplomacy and
provided the following definition:
Gunboat Diplomacy is the use or threat of limited naval force, otherwise
than as an act of war, in order to secure advantage or to avert loss, either
in the furtherance of an international dispute or against foreign nationals
within the territory or the jurisdiction of their own state. 137
For the purpose of analysis, Cable also subdivided Gunboat Diplomacy
into four distinct types: “definitive,” “purposeful,” “catalytic,” and
“expressive.” A close look at Cable’s typification indicates that American
foreign policy at the turn of the 19 th century had all the characteristics of
gunboat diplomacy; therefore, one may say that American aggressiveness in
conducting foreign policy as expressed in early American political thought
found an early application in the Barbary Wars of that period.
3. 2. The Second ‘Barbary War’, 1815-1816: An early Case of Gunboat
Diplomacy in American Foreign Policy
By applying Cable’s classification to the American naval expeditions of
1815-1816 against Algiers one finds that American foreign policy towards
Algiers included all the ingredients of Gunboat Diplomacy. Although such
ingredients are scattered throughout all American documents relating to the
period, very few indeed suffice for this analysis, particularly the instructions of
James Monroe, the Secretary of State, to the ‘peace commissioners to Algiers’
137 James Cable, Gunboat Diplomacy: Political Applications of Limited Naval Forces, 1919–1991, 3 rd
ed. (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1994), p. 14.
373