Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a term with conflicting meanings. For some, the Anglosphere is just those set of nations with English as the most common language. For many others, it is a set of nations which share a common heritage as being either former British colonies and or under the rule of the English crown and perhaps certain "English-like" characters within their culture. In particular this includes the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Furthermore, the Anglosphere has strong global socio-economic connotations, as the six countries which comprise the anglosphere enjoy some of the world's highest standards of living.
Definitions
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Anglospeak.svg/400px-Anglospeak.svg.png)
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The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the group of countries where English is the main native language".[1] The Merriam-Webster dictionary uses the less inclusive definition, saying "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate".[2]
Proponents
The U.S. businessman James C. Bennett, a proponent of the idea that there is something special about the cultural and legal traditions of English-speaking nations, writes in his 2004 book The Anglosphere Challenge:
The Anglosphere, as a network civilization without a corresponding political form, has necessarily imprecise boundaries. Geographically, the densest nodes of the Anglosphere are found in the United States and the United Kingdom. English-speaking Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and English-speaking South Africa are also significant populations. The English-speaking Caribbean, English-speaking Oceania, and the English-speaking educated populations in Africa and India constitute other important nodes.
— James C. Bennett.[3]
Bennett, argues there are two challenges confronting his concept of the Anglosphere. The first is finding ways to cope with rapid technological advancement and the second is the geopolitical challenges created by what he assumes will be an increasing gap between anglophone prosperity and economic struggles elsewhere.[4]
Andrew Roberts claims that the Anglosphere has been central in the First World War, Second World War and Cold War. He goes on to contend that anglophone unity is necessary for the defeat of Islamism.[5]
According to a 2003 profile in The Guardian, historian Robert Conquest favoured a British withdrawal from the European Union in favour of creating "a much looser association of English-speaking nations, known as the 'Anglosphere'".[6]
Criticisms
Michael Ignatieff wrote in an exchange with Robert Conquest, published by the New York Review of Books, that the term neglects the evolution of fundamental legal and cultural differences between the US and the UK, and the ways in which UK and European norms have drawn closer together. Of Conquest's view of the Anglosphere, Ignatieff writes: "He seems to believe that Britain should either withdraw from Europe or refuse all further measures of cooperation, which would jeopardize Europe's real achievements. He wants Britain to throw in its lot with a Union of English-speaking peoples, and I believe this to be a romantic illusion".[7]
See also
- English-speaking world
- History of the English language
- British Empire
- Anglicisation
- Commonwealth of Nations
- English in the Commonwealth of Nations
- ABCA Armies
- UKUSA Agreement
- Echelon
- History of the English Speaking Peoples (Winston Churchill)
- Sinosphere
Notes
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (6th ed.), Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-920687-2
- ^ Merriam-Webster Staff 2010.
- ^ Bennett 2004, p.80.
- ^ Bennett 2004[page needed]
- ^ Roberts 2006[page needed]
- ^ Brown 2003.
- ^ Conquest & Reply by Ignatieff 2000.
References
- Bennett, James C. (2004). The anglosphere challenge: why the English-speaking nations will lead the way in the twenty-first century. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0742533328.
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(help) - Brown, Andrew (15 February 2003). "Scourge and poet". The Guardian.
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(help) - Conquest, Robert; Reply by Ignatieff, Michael (23 March 2000), The 'Anglosphere', The New York Review of Books, retrieved 2007-07-24
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(help) - Merriam-Webster Staff (2010). "anglosphere.". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
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(help) - Reynolds, Glenn (28 October 2004). "Explaining the 'Anglosphere'". Guardian.co.uk.
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(help) - Roberts, Andrew (2006). A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0297850768.
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