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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 184.145.74.147 (talk) at 23:45, 30 August 2012 (Yes, British nationalism has in the past and present, recognized Irish people as being able to be considered part of a British nation). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
British nationalism is the nationalism of the British and British culture. It promotes Britishness and the British Isles as a collective national identity 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, 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 MinisterDavid 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.
Miller, William Lockley (2005), "Anglo-Scottish Relations from 1900 to Devolution and Beyond", Proceedings of the British Academy, 128, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0-19-726331-0