Un territoire inviolé : invasion, souveraineté et diplomatie publique dans le projet orangiste de 1688 en Angleterre

Abstract

This paper seeks to demonstrate that the success of William of Orange’s invasion of England was tied to the development of an institutionalised public diplomacy just as much as to the building of a navy and army. Its core message was to deny that 1688 constituted a violation of the territory and of the sovereignty exercised over it, for it was necessary to gather and unite all the available forces against Louis XIV, inside England as well as outside. However, incorporating the public sphere within the diplomatic process led to a definition of sovereignty as being coordinated between the crown and the political nation, whilst the instrumentalising of conflicting oppositions that straddled the revolution itself clashed with the expression of a potential plebeian agency (if not sovereignty).

Keywords

• 1688
• William of Orange
• invasion
• public diplomacy
• sovereignty