British nationalism

The Union Flag of the United Kingdom, bearing the English red cross with white border, the Irish Saint Patrick's Saltire with a white border, and the Saint Andrew's Saltire and blue background. This is a common symbol used by British nationalists.

Satellite photograph of the British Isles. Originally British nationalism was typically applicable to the entire British Isles, however since the secession of the Republic of Ireland from the United Kingdom, British nationalism typically focuses on the unity of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

British nationalism is the nationalism of the British and British culture. It promotes Britishness and the British Isles as a as a collective national idenity for English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh peoples. British nationalism is closely associated with British unionism. It is characterised as a "powerful but ambivalent force in British politics". In a moderate form, British nationalism has been a civic nationalism, emphasizing both cohesion and diversity of the people of the British Isles and its former colonies - one can be ethnically English, Irish, Scot, Welsh, or a person from a former British colony or descendent of a person from a former British colony and be considered British. Recently however, nativist nationalism and extremist nationalism has arose based on fear of Britain being swamped by immigrants, this anti-immigrant nativist nationalism has been present in the British National Party and other extreme nativist nationalist and neo-Nazi movements. Politicians, such as British Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservative Party and his direct predecessor Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, have sought to promote British nationalism as a progressive cause.

Nationalism and unionism

Historically, and at the present day, unionist movements exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland. These movements seek specifically to retain the ties between those areas and the rest of the UK, in opposition to civic nationalist movements. Such unionist movements include the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party and the Scottish Unionist Party. In Scotland and Wales the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties support the Union, although some supporters of those parties would consider their nationality to be Scottish or Welsh rather than British, however most but not all, consider to be both Scottish/Welsh and British.

See also

• British unionism
• English nationalism
• Irish nationalism
• Scottish nationalism
• Welsh nationalism
• Ulster nationalism
• Cornish nationalism

References

Bibliography

• Miller, William Lockley (2005), "Anglo-Scottish Relations from 1900 to Devolution and Beyond", Proceedings of the British Academy (Oxford University Press) 128, ISBN 9780197263310 
• Motyl, Alexander J. (2001). Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Volume II. Academic Press. ISBN 0122272307. 
• Smith, Michael; Smith, Steve; White, Brian (1988), British foreign policy: tradition, change, and transformation, Routledge, ISBN 9780043270813 

External links

• UK National Democrats- A Manifesto for Britain
• British Nationalism: an idea whose time has come- BNP Manifesto 1997
• Rebuilding British Democracy- BNP Manifesto 2005