Brexit and the ‘Imperial Factor’
A longue durée Approach to British Exceptionalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11943511 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Berny Sèbe (0000-0002-7608-7793, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1048-1076 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-6534 • E-ISSN: 1743-9329 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03086534.2023.2262317 |
| OpenAlex | W4388737772 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 36 |
To what extent can we detect echoes of the triumphant Britannia (Thomas Arne composed Rule Britannia in 1740) in contemporary Brexit debates? What were the subliminal refractions of the refrain ‘Britons never will be slaves’ in complaints about the frequently evoked ‘Brussels shackles’? Through a longue durée approach to two major elements of modern British history – Britannia and the celebration of colonial expansion as a ‘bringer of progress’, this article charts the persistence of political and cultural visions including the Empire simultaneously as an expression, a tool and a channel of British exceptionalism. Positing that the Empire was integral to the emergence of British identity and its consolidation, it also underlines, through references to John Robert Seeley’s highly influential work, the key role played by England in this process. Based upon the hypothesis that past reflections on Britain’s global role – including those championed by Cecil John Rhodes – have left an imprint on the Brexit conversation in the run-up to, and aftermath of, the vote, this article introduces the concept of ‘imperial factor’ as a way of taking into account the long-term impact that the development and possession of the world’s largest empire has left on British ways of seeing the world, and, crucially, of seeing Britain’s place in the world. Beyond the case-study of exceptionalism offered here, further research, especially of a quantitative nature, is suggested to refine our understanding of the precise extent to which the ‘imperial factor’ played a role in the Brexit vote of 2016. Conceived as an instrument to take into account the potential imperial dimension of a multi- faceted phenomenon such as Britain’s departure from the EU, the ‘imperial factor’ is, more broadly, a useful tool to gauge – in the UK but also among other formerly imperial nations – the potential and variable long-term influence that the possession of an empire left on national visions, psyche and practices
Ancient history · Brexit · Economic history · Economics · European union · Exceptionalism · Factor (programming language · Political science · Politics · Australian History and Society · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
Britons
The Imperial Idea and its Enemies
European empires and the people
The Empire Strikes Back?
The Invention Of Tradition
The New Map of Empire
Echoes of Empire
The Expansion of England
Writing imperial histories
The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France
Replenishing the Earth
The Anglosphere
Comfort’ and Conviction
The British Empire in the Culture War
On Colonialism
Further Thoughts on Imperial Absent-Mindedness
The British Empire
John Robert Seeley and British imperial history
Brexit and Empire
Walter Crane and the Imperial Federation Map Showing the Extent of the British Empire (1886)
Gladstone and Imperialism
The case for colonialism
THe Fear of Falling
I'm Proud of the British Empire
Rosebery and Liberal Imperialism, 1899-1903
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900
The End of the Ethnic Bloc Vote? Ethnic Minority Leavers After the Brexit Referendum
The Empire Project
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |