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British nationalism is a nationalism of the British and British culture. It asserts that the British constitute a nation, rather than an identity of a collection of nations. It is closely associated with British unionism, which seeks to uphold or strengthen the union between the countries of the British Isles. It is characterised as a "powerful but ambivalent force in British politics". In its 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 – British nationalists hold that one can be ethnically English, Irish, Scottish, 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 arisen 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

Nowadays, as in the past, unionist movements exist in Scotland and 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, and although some supporters of those parties would consider their nationality to be Scottish or Welsh rather than British, most consider themselves to be both Scottish/Welsh and British.

See also

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

References

Notes

1. ^ Motyl 2001, pp. 62–63.
2. Miller 2005, p. 133.
3. Smith, Smith & White 1988, p. 61.
4. ^ Motyl 2001, pp. 64.
5. "Gordon Brown calls for national day to celebrate 'Britishness' - Wikinews, the free news source". En.wikinews.org. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
6. Conservative Party leader David Cameron advocates liberal or civic British nationalism: "Being British is one of the most successful examples of inclusive civic nationalism in the world." http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2006/09/Cameron_I_will_never_take_Scotland_for_granted.aspx www.conservatives.com Official party site (26 September 2006)

Bibliography

• Miller, William Lockley (2005), "Anglo-Scottish Relations from 1900 to Devolution and Beyond", Proceedings of the British Academy, 128, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-726331-0
• Motyl, Alexander J. (2001). Encyclopedia of Nationalism, Volume II. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-227230-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Smith, Michael; Smith, Steve; White, Brian (1988), British foreign policy: tradition, change, and transformation, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-04-327081-3

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

• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from November 2012
• British nationalism