Elite-Mass Agreement in British Foreign Policy
| Autor: | Srdjan Vucetic |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Political Science
SocArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Political Science|International Relations bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences SocArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Political Science SocArXiv|Social and Behavioral Sciences bepress|Social and Behavioral Sciences|Political Science|International Relations |
| Popis: | Thirty years ago, William Wallace likened British foreign policy to a musical tug-of-war between the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ and ‘Europeans’, attributing ‘all the best tunes’ to the former. This study revisits Wallace’s thesis and its main concept, national identity. It finds that Wallace was right to draw attention to the power of the ruling elite to shape Englishness and Britishness. However, the study also finds that ‘global’ foreign policy ideas were never the exclusive province of a segment of the British elite. Rather, they circulated in English and more broadly British society writ large, reflecting and reinforcing deep seated, even unselfconscious agreements between both ‘Anglo-Saxon’ and ‘European’ elites, on one hand, and much of the mass consumer public, on the other. It follows that the constraints posed on possibilities of foreign policy change were always greater than Wallace had suggested. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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