Nationalism, Devolution and the Challenge to the United Kingdom State

Arthur Aughey

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN: 9780745315263, 9780745315263
• eBook ISBN: 9781849640572
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

With the advent of devolution, it is clear that the British Constitution is currently undergoing a period of dynamic transformation. England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales were slowly united by conquest and treaty over the last 300 years, a unity which was only broken by the 1922 agreement that split Ireland in two. The last 50 years have seen the collapse of empire, and while the pull of local nationalism within the United Kingdom continues to strengthen, integrative narratives of Britishness weaken. In this insightful book, Arthur Aughey outlines the changing character of the United Kingdom polity, and examines the developing debate about the meaning of the Union in the context of New Labour/New Britain. In a systematic survey of historical, theoretical and political reflection on the nature of Britishness, he questions what the Union once was, what it means now and what it might become, taking into account the challenge posed by internal divisions along with the problems posed by European integration and globalisation.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• PART I Questions
• 1 When Was Britain?
• 2 What Was Britain?
• 3 Why Is Britain?
• PART II Narratives
• 4 The Conservative Nation
• 5 The Labour Nation
• 6 National Peoples
• PART III Futures
• 7 Modes of Self-Determination
• 8 Missing England
• 9 A European Conclusion?
• References
• Index