Book Description

British participation in the historical process of European integration has been persistently framed as a policy dilemma of the highest order. This dilemma was itself coloured by the existence of policy traditions that oriented Britain away from Europe and towards political communities tied to a historical interpretation of British nationality. Euroscepticism is symptomatic of these traditions and dilemmas while at the same time sustaining them. But Eurosceptics face a dilemma of their own. What serious alternative do they propose? The notion of the 'Anglosphere' was adopted on the Eurosceptic right of British politics as an alternative to European integration. As a politics of disengagement by the Cameron government played out in Europe, a policy of re-engagement began with Britain's former Dominions. Here was a response to a political dilemma that not only used historical consciousness and political tradition as its point of departure, but as its place of destination too. This article is part of the January 2015 Special Issue titled 'Interpreting British European Policy', which also includes Interpreting British European Policy by Mark Bevir, Oliver Daddow and Pauline Schnapper (DOI: ), Safeguarding British Identity or Betraying It? The Role of British 'Tradition' in the Parliamentary Great Debate on EC Membership, October 1971 by N. Piers Ludlow (DOI: ), The Return of 'Englishness' in British Political Culture - The End of the Unions? by Michael Kenny (DOI: ), Interpreting the Outsider Tradition in British European Policy Speeches from Thatcher to Cameron by Oliver Daddow (DOI: ), 'One Woman's Prejudice': Did Margaret Thatcher Cause Britain's Anti-Europeanism? by Cary Fontana and Craig Parsons (DOI: ), Between One-Nation Toryism and Neoliberalism: The Dilemmas of British Conservatism and Britain's Evolving Place in Europe by Mark I. Vail (DOI: ), Reworking the Eurosceptic and Conservative Traditions into a Populist Narrative: UKIP's Winning Formula? by Karine Tournier-Sol (DOI: ), The Labour Party and Europe from Brown to Miliband: Back to the Future? by Pauline Schnapper (DOI: ), Educating Britain? Political Literacy and the Construction of National History by Helen Brocklehurst (DOI: ).