Agustin Guimerá – författare

Explores the varied relationship between political leaders and naval experts, from the 16th to 21st centuries The shaping of national defence strategies is particularly difficult in the case of navies. Few political leaders have naval experience, in contrast to the case of armies where political leaders and army commanders have often shared similar social and professional backgrounds. Bringing together historical examples from Britain, the United States, Spain and France, the book provides insights into this key relationship.The authors highlight factors which have made for successful relationships between political leaders and naval experts, showing how changing circumstances have affected the dialogue and underlines the importance of good exchange of knowledge, expertise and understanding for successful policy making and strategic outcomes. Sea power continues to be crucial in the present world's increasingly unstable geopolitical situation, the mutual exchange of expertise between naval experts and political leaders is as important as ever, and the risk of political 'sea blindness' remains high. This book's historical examples provide good guidance on how to manage the relationship between political leaders and naval experts well.

The naval leader has taken centre stage in traditional naval histories. However, while the historical narrative has been fairly consistent the development of various navies has been accompanied by assumptions, challenges and competing visions of the social characteristics of naval leaders and of their function. Whilst leadership has been a constant theme in historical studies, it has not been scrutinised as a phenomenon in its own right. This book examines the critical period in Europe between 1700 -1850, when political, economic and cultural shifts were bringing about a new understanding of the individual and of society. Bringing together context with a focus on naval leadership as a phenomenon is at the heart of this book, a unique collaborative venture between British, French and Spanish scholars. As globalisation develops in the twenty-first century the significance of navies looks set to increase. This volume of essays aims to place naval leadership in its historical context.An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 978-1-911534-76-1. More information about the initiative and details about KU’s Open Access programme can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org