Greatness and Decline: National Identity and British Foreign Policy (Volume 3) (McGill-Queen's Transatlantic Studies)

A timely look at British exceptionalism and what it reveals about British foreign policy after World War II. __Greatness and Decline__ sheds new light on Britain's interactions with the rest of the world while demonstrating new possibilities for constructivist foreign policy analysis. Arguing that Britain's search for greatness in world affairs was, and still is, a matter of habit, Srdjan Vucetic takes a closer look at the period between Clement Attlee's "New Jerusalem" and Tony Blair's New Labour. "As Britain begins to confront the new challenges of the post-Brexit era, it is timely to re-examine the nature and causes of British foreign policy after World War II. Srdjan Vucetic contends that Britain's tenacious search for a global power role was never simply a function of a certain elite-level culture or consensus. Rather, it developed from mainstream, gradually evolving ideas about "who we are" circulating within British and more specifically English society as a whole. Greatness and Decline builds on Making Identity Count, a project to assemble a constructivist database of national identities for the use in International Relations and in social sciences and humanities more generally. Political speeches, newspapers, history textbooks, novels, and movies help the author reconstruct the content and contestations of Britishness across colonial, Cold War, and post-Cold War periods. He then uses this analysis to shed new light on the kingdom's interactions with the rest of the world. This book will appeal to those who wish to know how and why exceptionalist ideas have for so long influenced British foreign policy. It will also appeal to those interested in possible new directions for Britain in an increasingly unstable world."-- Provided by publisher Exceptionalist ideas have long influenced British foreign policy. As Britain begins to confront the challenges of a post-Brexit era in an increasingly unstable world, a re-examination of the nature and causes of this exceptionalist bent is in order. Arguing that Britain's search for greatness in world affairs was, and still is, a matter of habit, Srdjan Vucetic takes a closer look at the period between Clement Attlee's "New Jerusalem" and Tony Blair's New Labour. Britain's tenacious pursuit of global power was never just a function of consensus among policymakers or even political elites more broadly. Rather, it developed from popular, everyday, and gradually evolving ideas about identity circulating within British – and, more specifically, English – society as a whole. To uncover these ideas, Vucetic works with a unique archive of political speeches, newspapers, history textbooks, novels, and movies across colonial, Cold War, and post–Cold War periods. Greatness and Decline sheds new light on Britain's interactions with the rest of the world while demonstrating new possibilities for constructivist foreign policy analysis. Cover GREATNESS AND DECLINE Title Copyright Contents Figures and Tables Preface Introduction 1 Between the Actual Superpowers 2 African Winds, Atlantic Anchoring 3 Between Europe and Nixon 4 Down, Not Out 5 The West Has Won, But ... 6 A Bridge, of Sorts Conclusion Appendix A Appendix B Notes References Index