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The Union Flag of the United Kingdom, adopted in this version in 1801 bearing the England's red cross with white border (England in 1801 included Wales within it), Ireland's Saint Patrick's Saltire with a white border, and Scotland's Saint Andrew's Saltire and blue background. This is a common symbol used by British nationalists.The Palace of Westminster in London.King Arthur the king of the ancient Britons, depicted as one of the Nine Worthies in tapestry, c. 1385. The legend of King Arthur as a warrior ruler and British hero as depicted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae laid the foundation of British nationalism.Satellite photograph of Britain and Ireland. Originally British nationalism was typically applicable to Britain. British nationalism typically focuses on the unity of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
British nationalism is the nationalism that asserts that the British are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of the British, in a definition of Britishness that includes people of English, Scottish, Welsh, Ulster Scots and, in some cases, Irish descent, or a descendent from a British dependency or former British colony. British nationalism is closely associated with British unionism, which seeks to uphold the political union that is the United Kingdom, or strengthen the links between the countries of the United Kingdom.
British nationalism's identity of British descends from the ancient Britons who dwelt on the island of Great Britain.
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 United Kingdom, its dependencies, and its former colonies. 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 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, 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.
Guntram H. Herb, David H. Kaplan. Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview: A Global Historical Overview. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2008.
Guntram H. Herb, David H. Kaplan. Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview: A Global Historical Overview. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2008.
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
Note: Forms of nationalism based primarily on ethnic groups are listed above. This does not imply that all nationalists with a given ethnicity subscribe to that form of ethnic nationalism.
