Abstract
For more than a century the great political causes in British politics were Empire, Socialism, Free Trade, Liberty and Reform. They are so no longer. If some of them still resonate, they do so in different ways. In the last twenty-five years British politics has been transformed, and a new political landscape has emerged. At the centre of this new landscape is the question of Britain’s relation to Europe and to America, whether Britain can be a bridge between the two, or whether it has to choose between them. This book explores this question in relation to the historical path of development of British politics, and the imprint it has left on the British state, on British institutions, on British political parties and on British political ideologies. The relationship of Britain to Europe and America is not a matter simply of economics or of politics or of international relations: it goes to the heart of the political identity and political economy of this state formed over a very long period of development. It constantly gives rise to new defining issues in British politics, such as whether or not to join the euro, whether or not to support war against Iraq.
Eighty years ago, England was a country like every other … Today it is a country like no other.
Friedrich Engels, 18441
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England, in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Collected Works 4 ( London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1975 ) p. 320.
Selina Chen and Tony Wright (eds), The English Question ( London: Fabian Society, 2000 ).
Edward Thompson, ‘The Peculiarities of the English’, Socialist Register, 1965, pp. 311–62;
Philip Corrigan and Derek Sayer, The Great Arch ( Oxford: Blackwell, 1985 ).
Tom Nairn, After Britain ( London: Verso, 2000 );
John Curtice, David McCrone, Alison Park and Lindsay Paterson (eds), New Scotland, New Society ( Edinburgh: Polygon, 2002 );
Alice Brown, David McCrone and Lindsay Paterson, Politics and Society in Scotland ( London: Palgrave, 1998 ).
Anthony Giddens, Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics ( Cambridge: Polity, 1994 );
Noberto Bobbio, Left and Right ( Cambridge: Polity, 1996 ).
Jonathan Freedland, Bring Home the Revolution: The Case for a British Republic ( London: Fourth Estate, 1999 ).
David Marsh et al. (eds), Postwar British Politics in Perspective ( Cambridge: Polity, 1999 ).
Richard Heffernan, New Labour and Thatcherism: Political Change in Britain ( London: Palgrave, 2000 );
Peter Kerr, Postwar British Politics: from conflict to consensus ( London: Routledge, 2001 ).
Gosta Esping-Andersen, The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism ( Cambridge: Polity, 1990 ).
Stephen Driver and Luke Martell, Blair’s Britain ( Cambridge: Polity, 2002 );
Steve Ludlam and Martin Smith (eds), New Labour in Government ( London: Palgrave, 2001 ).
Steve Ludlam, ‘The Spectre Haunting Conservatism: Europe and Backbench Rebellion’, in S. Ludlam and M.J. Smith (eds), Contemporary British Conservatism ( London: Macmillan, 1996 ), pp. 98–120.
Robert Hazell, Delivering Constitutional Reform: The Collected Briefings of the Constitution Unit (London: Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, 1997). See also issues of the Constitution Unit’s Monitor.
Dennis Kavanagh, The Reordering of British Politics: Politics after Thatcher ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997 );
Mark Bevir and Rod Rhodes, Understanding British Government ( London: Routledge, 2003 );
Joel Krieger, British Politics in the Global Age ( Cambridge: Polity, 1999 ).
Kevin Davey, English Imaginaries: Six Studies in Anglo-British Modernity ( London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1999 ).
Tom Nairn, The Breakup of Britain (London: Verso, 1977); and After Britain.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Who Do We Think We Are? Imagining the New Britain ( London: Allen Lane, 2000 ).
Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory ( London: Macmillan 2000 );
Bhikhu Parekh (ed.), The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain ( London: Profile Books, 2000 ).
John Redwood, Stars and Strife: The Coming Conflicts between the USA and the European Union ( London: Palgrave, 2001 ).
Peter Mandelson, The Blair Revolution Revisited ( London: Politico’s, 2002 ).
Will Hutton, The World We’re In (London: Little, Brown, 2002).
Dick Leonard and Mark Leonard (eds), The Pro-European Reader ( London: Palgrave, 2002 );
Martin Holmes (ed.), The Eurosceptical Reader 2 ( London: Palgrave, 2002 ).
Geoffrey Owen, From Empire to Europe: the Decline and Revival of British Industry Since the Second World War ( London: Harper Collins, 2000 ).
Colin Hay, The Political Economy of New Labour: Labouring under False Pretences? ( Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999 ).
Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the English Working Class.( Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999 ).
Colin Leys, Market Driven Politics: Neo-liberal Democracy and the Public Interest ( London: Verso, 2001 ).
Tony Giddens, The Third Way and its Critics ( Cambridge: Polity, 2000 ).
Colin Crouch, Post-Democracy ( London: Fabian Society, 2000 ).
Copyright information
© 2003 Andrew Gamble
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gamble, A. (2003). English Questions. In: Between Europe and America. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-4045-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-4045-2_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-55571-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4039-4045-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)