What does it mean to speak of a United Kingdom Is there such a thing as British nationalism - Essay Example

? United Kingdom and British Nationalism Tile] United Kingdom and British Nationalism The continent of Europe comprises of different nations, sharing similar values. History itself is evident that national interests and benefits induced nations to unite themselves on a single platform. During World War, the rise of fascism was a major dilemma for the European nation, therefore, different nations were united under two major blocks, that are, Alliance and Fascism block. In the contemporary period, United Kingdom is an example of the same idea, different countries including Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales united themselves on cultural and national grounds under a sovereign state, that is, the United Kingdom (Bowden 2007). United Kingdom is a symbol of a cultural union, whereas British nationalism is being discriminated among Welsh, Scottish, Irish and English on the basis of their national ideologies. After the nineteenth century, the concept of liberalism democracy overwhelmed nationalism. The ambiguity among these four countries under British nationalism is a major controversial issue that has been debated over period (Aughey, 2001). This paper briefs about United Kingdom and British Nationality. It further argues British Nationality with its relation to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales’s nationalist views. United Kingdom is a combination of four countries sharing similar language, culture, and legal system. It is located in the northwest of the European continent, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It comprises of regions of the northeastern part of Ireland, Island of Britain and other small islands. It mainly consists of four countries, that is, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Nairm 2010). These countries united on cultural and national grounds, the main interest of these nations is to promote economic, cultural, military, scientific and political interest by uniting them under one state and in a way support each other. United Kingdom is one of the commonwealth realms i.e. the world’s sixth largest economy and having the eight-largest purchasing power parity. Therefore, it can be stated that United Kingdom includes nations with the British influences. People belonging to the region share similar cultures, values and legal systems. The term United Kingdom is often used as a synonym for Great Britain, geographically England. United Kingdom is a sovereign state that includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, sharing British ethnicity, with respect to Ireland it has been controversial (Nairm 2010). These four countries share economical, political and cultural integrity on national grounds. These countries share political concordance on under the constitutional monarchy, headed by Queen Elizabeth II (McEwen 2012). While speaking of United Kingdom, It comes to our understanding that four independent countries unite themselves under a sovereign state to protect their national interests; therefore they shall share British Nationalism (Jenkin 2012). The transformation of democratic trends has created discrimination among these countries with respect to their national ideology. British Nationalism asserts a sense of unity among the nations and promotes their cultural unity. It defines that the ‘Britishness’ includes people from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland share similar cultural identity and are declared as British descendants (Jenkin 2012). The concept of British nationalism aims to closely associate and strength political links between British Isles (McEwen 2012). British nationalism is the political movement that was established after World War II, it aims to protect British Empire that has been suppressed during 1960s and 1970s (Bowden 2007). The main emphasis of the British nationalism is to protect and strength political interests that were suppressed in the past (McEwen 2012). British nationalism is influenced by historical experiences, the dark events the British nation faced after World War when the fascism was growing (Jenkin 2012). The main idea of British nationalism is derived from the past political and historical events (Jenkin 2012). According to the British nationality Act 1948, the Citizen of United Kingdom and British Colonies should share the same national identity and citizenship (McEwen 2012). These countries share similar economy, political and legal systems; therefore, they shall share the same nationality (British Nationality) (Aughey 2001). During the twentieth century, it has been observed that these countries are more focused on liberalism rather than adopting the concept of British nationalism (Bowden 2007). This is due to reason that in the contemporary period, these countries are more inclined to prefer liberal democracy to nationalism (McEwen 2012). Every individual state strives to attain liberal democratic practice rather than tying itself to nationalism (McEwen 2012). Therefore, Scottish, England, Irish and Welsh nationalism has transformed over the period, this has disperse the ideology of British nationalism. According to the constitutional ideology, British Nationalism aims to protect the national and cultural rights of British people (Aughey 2001). This has been argued that the British nationalism is a racist movement because it promotes the British descendents only, whereas the minority is being neglected (Nairm 2010). On the contrary, Scottish Nationalism promotes liberalism and its social policies are constituted overlooking the race (McEwen 2012). It aims to promote the idea that the Scottish people have a distinct national identity and a cohesive nation (Bowden 2007). It does not consider the racial discrimination as the British Nationalism. Scottish Nationalism is a civic nationalism rather than ethnic nationalism. Furthermore, the Welsh nationalism promotes the idea of distinctiveness on the basis of language, culture and history (Aughey 2001). Nationalism grew in the twentieth century with respect to the development of Plaid Cymru as a liberal party, as it stresses in the ‘full nation status’ promoting socialism (Nairm 2010). Therefore, Welsh Nationalism is in favor of the nationalism as Welsh representative party has gained interest during the period. Northern Ireland Nationalism is less liberal and is less willing to embrace cultural diversity, as it considers that the Great Britain the ‘mainland’ is given preference over Ireland (Aughey 2001). This is one the major reason that the entire Ireland does not state itself as a part of United Kingdom. On the other hand, English nationalism runs with the same idea of British nationalism. It asserts that the English nations shall be united as they have similar cultures (McEwen 2012). It involves political and social movements that promote sentiments for English language, history and culture and they distinguish and develop a sense of pride among English nationalists (Bowden 2007). Therefore, it can be determined that United Kingdom promotes unionism among British people on cultural grounds. On the contrary, discrimination on the political and national grounds is observed among these nations (Aughey 2001). Although, the concept of United Kingdom comes from the idea of ‘different countries united under a sovereign state sharing similar ethnicity.’ However, the transformation and change in the ideas of democracy has created discrimination among these nations. These countries are eager to share national interests but are not convinced to promote political integrity. This reflects that these countries are convinces to unite for national interests but are not eager to share similar nationality (Nairm 2010). Therefore, it can be determined that these countries are more concerned to protect their national identity and do not want to unite under a single national idea, that is, British nationalism (Jenkin 2012). It can be concluded that the independent states cannot share similar nationality, as their constitutional ideas are diverse and have contradicting ideologies as compared to other states. The concept of liberalism has overwhelmed democracy more than nationalism; therefore, the transformation of perceptions among these nations has created differences with respect to national ideas. It shall be noted that the independent states may unite on a platform to promote their political interests, on the other hand, these countries do not want to share their national identity while sharing similar national interests. List of References Aughey, A 2001, Nationalism, devolution, and the challenge to the United Kingdom state, Illustrated edn, Pluto Press, Michigan. Bowden, R 2007, United Kingdom, Revised edn, Evans, London. Jenkin, B 2012, Irish nationalism and the British state: From repeal to revolutionary nationalism, Revised edn, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal. McEwen, N 2012, Nationalism and the State: Welfare and Identity in Scotland, Illustrated edn, Peter Lang, Brussel. Nairm, T 2010, The Break-up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-nationalism, Common Ground, Edinburgh. 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