Impact of Devolution on Britain and the Nature of Englishness - Dissertation Example

Since 1997, United Kingdom has been undergoing devolution as regards its 4 member states, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. England has been ‘eventually promised’ a new and ‘Greater London Authority,’ with a separate and Assembly and mayor, while separate regionally elected assemblies are also on the annals for England; while the remaining 3 states have been given varying degrees of autonomy in their assemblies. Thus this entire process of devolution spells out new territorial contours within the realms of the United Kingdom.

A look at the history shows us that Britain did not quite have a homogenous nature right from the time of its conception, and the then British foreign secretary Robin Cook, ascertained that the concept of this “homogeneity of British identity that some people assume to be the norm was confined to a relatively brief period. It lasted from the Victorian era of imperial expansion to the aftermath of the Second World War.The diversity of modern Britain expressed through devolution and multiculturalism is more consistent with the historical experience of our islands” (Cook, 2001).

The topic or concept of ‘British,’ after being reviewed by various experts has been found to consist of a large and gaping conceptual void (Kumar, 2000, 576). Historical records, in general, are found aplenty, starting with political, constitutional, social, and economic histories of England, yet there has been a noticeable lack in the research work pertaining to a comprehension of the subject of ‘Britishness;’ or the United Kingdom as one complete theme; its nature and political forms as one single issue.

In the modern era the question regarding this sense of nationality (or of Britishness), and of a feeling of national identity, suddenly has gained importance in the context of this devolution process. So what is this ‘Britishness,’ and what is its place in the context of ‘Englishness’ and England? Here we again are faced with another hurdle.