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Politics - Britain's imperial legacy and impact on BREXIT

The Brexit of Britain, which is one of those Great European Imperial Powers that once had an empire and therefore it has a historic tendency to think in an imperialist manner and with a superiority complex. 
by Alex Naughton, editing by Earl of Cruise
Brexit and Britain
One star left the European Union
Britain for example had a superiority complex over its colonies such as Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East and native peoples of Australia and New Zealand for example. However this perceived superiority is misguided and wrong. All peoples are equal and every perspective has their opinion and that is at the heart of free speech and our values.

Our traditional distrust of China in the West is also perhaps misguided and clouded by our imperial mindset and superiority complex. Many of the European powers and America had trading posts / colonies in China for many years but were thrown out after the Opium Wars. Some countries such as Britain retained some territory such as Hong Kong. But this historic trauma clouded their perception. Since the opening up of China in the 1970s, despite being called the Communist Party, they have been on a transition towards a Chinese version of Capitalism but without the adverse impacts of Western Capitalism. Their governance system remains very centralised and state orientated but this enables them to plan long term and transition their economy in a very managed way. So arguably their economy and outlook is more capitalist than you may first imagine. Perhaps the Communist Party is just a political party and so communist in name only. President Xi recently at the World Economic Forum surprisingly gave a speech promoting globalisation and capitalism calling on countries around the world to stand up to rising nationalism and protectionism. A major plank of China's economic policy is reaching out through its One Road One Belt policy to create a New Silk Road to Europe, South East Asia and Russia. Likewise they have set up various banking and financial institutions to support these strategic policies and they continue to invest heavily in infrastructure and other activities in many parts of the world including Africa and elsewhere. So they arguably are Global China. Yes there may be scope for tension with the USA and Japan over certain policy positions such as South China Sea and so on, but China is a growing economic, political and military power on the world stage so there may be benefits to keeping a more open mind on them.
The British Empire 1915 - Source: britishempire.co.uk

Indeed many of the problems today in the Middle East date back to the period of the First World War when the Ottoman Empire was collapsing (a protectorate of Britain) and was being carved up by Britain and France. 
The construction of the Hedsha Railway and the Bagdad Railway supported and financed by the Deutsches Kaiserreich and German Banks, and the financial support by the German gouvernment, was a threat to British interests in and with the Ottoman Empire.
by Earl Cruise
Sykes and Picot divided up the Middle East into British and French areas behind the backs of the Arabs. Through this the boundaries of the modern Middle East were created and all the modern day national flags were designed as well. It also promised Russia that it could give them Istanbul to maintain Russia's access to its naval bases in Crimea from the Mediterranean. While Britain's concern was to maintain the sea route to India via the Suez Canal and an overland route to India via Istanbul and Baghdad to Basra and then by sea through Persian Gulf. The French likewise wanted to protect their sea route to Indo China via Suez. Also another big factor was oil. The only international area on this map was Palestine. This was the first promise. The second was when Britain promised the Arab peoples a single nation covering the whole Middle East from modern Turkey south to modern Yemen. However all these promises were rescinded upon for the imperial interests of Britain and France. France got much of North Africa and Lebanon and Syria. Britain got the rest including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Aden, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Palestine, Iraq and Iran as "mandates" under agreement with the UN. Yet these were in effect colonies as Britain didn't feel that the Arab peoples were well trained enough to govern themselves yet (despite agreeing with their wish for independence) so felt the need to rule them as colonies for a period to teach them how to govern. In the 1920s Turkey rebelled against the European powers and Ataturk created the Republic of Turkey as a secular state thereby also shunning the Arabs as well. The third promise that Britain made under pressure from the Rothschild family was the Balfour Declaration which declared Britain's intent to support the formation of a Jewish state somewhere in the Middle East. This last promise was the only one implemented with the creation of Israel after the Second World War partly to give Britain's allies such as America and Russia something to gain from at the end of the Second World War thereby keeping them interested and involved in the war effort. 

These three "promises" especially the Sykes Picot Agreement are the root causes of the problems in the Middle East today. Imperial "superiority complexes" by Britain and France not willing to understand that the Arabs may know how to govern themselves or wish to have independence without being under their imperial rule. Also Britain then was driven by a strong imperial intent to maintain a sea route to India via the Suez Canal as well as an overland route to India via Istanbul, Baghdad and Basra then ship through Persian Gulf to India. This imperial legacy is also why Britain has long relationships with countries such as Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia despite their authoritarian regimes. 

The imperial legacy of Britain also informs the underlying reasoning perhaps why BREXIT occurred and Britain's sometimes indecisive attitude towards the European Union. The British culture and history has ingrained in its people an imperial legacy including firstly a dislike of the word "Constitution" perhaps due to the historic trauma of America leaving the British Empire. This has led to an adverse reaction when the European Union suggested a written constitution and also perhaps is why Britain doesn't have a written constitution yet historically has written the basis to many constitutions for countries around the world! 

Secondly, in history Britain has been invaded from the European Continent including by the Vikings, Romans and Normans. This has ingrained a slight wariness towards the European Continent therefore informing perhaps out "in and out" relationship with the European Union. 

Also thirdly we have been very allergic to the idea of a federal superstate of the European Union perhaps due to the comparison with becoming the United States of America but instead a United States of Europe. Britain has been used to being an imperial power of its own so doesn't perhaps like becoming subsumed under a superstate of the European Union as the comparison with the USA then becomes too close for comfort. 

Fourthly there is perhaps some hint of disquiet due to the current dominance of Germany in the European Union both economically and politically which some Brits may find strange considering the situation around 70 years ago. Yet times change and countries change. Germany certainly has changed in that 70 years and today is an exemplar of a modern, liberal, democratic and open democracy which strongly upholds international values and freedoms. Indeed it perhaps is more cautious than many about its role on the world stage or any leadership due to its own turbulent history as it is only too aware of the consequences if its leadership goes wrong. 

Lastly Britain is an island nation and was centre of a global empire therefore tends to think as an island and globally. It is very internationalist in outlook because of its history and imperial legacy. 

The UK arguably is an empire of England in some ways. Wales was the earliest "colony" of England following the submission of the Welsh through King Edward I and his great Welsh Castles. Scotland was next beginning with the death of Queen Elizabeth I and succession of the Scottish king to the English throne as James I. Eventually the Act of Union was signed after the Scottish imperial misadventure which was the Darien Scheme which bankrupted Scotland causing them to have to be bailed out by England thereby leading to the Act of Union. Indeed the English imperial legacy is at the heart of the Irish Troubles due to mistreatment of the Catholics of Ulster since Elizabethan times and imposition and colonisation of Ulster with English and Scottish protestants. This led to distrust of Catholics back in England due to propaganda. Under King James I the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland were united for the first time. Ulster was a pawn in the great battle for control of England in the Jacobite period after the fall of King James II. This religious strife continued until the 20th century eventually leading to Irish independence expect for the more Protestant dominated Northern Ireland. Thereby leading to the continuing troubles there until the Good Friday Agreement. However the BREXIT challenge could question the United Kingdom and its future as a country as there is a risk of break up particularly with Scotland and Northern Ireland.

As I keep saying we must not be complacent just because the status quo is currently that doesn't mean it will always be that.

Due to its imperial legacy Britain is a very multicultural and cosmopolitan country and welcoming to refugees and migrants from all over the world. Indeed every nation is a nation of migrants and refugees and Britain is a typical example of this fact. So turning our back on such groups is wrong and goes against our history as a human race. We are as a species are "Out of Africa" so we are all migrants really. Hence perhaps our yearning to look beyond just Europe and have relationships and trade all over the world. We also have a close bond with the USA and countries of the Commonwealth due to the legacy of the British Empire as well as being an inherently and geographically European country (we are Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Viking, Roman, Norman, French, Scottish, Dutch, German, etc). 

But because of the EU we feel or have the perception of being constrained in this currently hence the wish to break free and become a global nation again despite us always being this through our history and it never having gone away.  This despite many of the benefits of the European Union such as the single market being British inspired. Indeed it was Churchill who first called for a United States of Europe in gathering gloom of the Cold War as the Iron Curtain fell across Europe. After the Second World War it was the imperial mindset of Britain and Russia that carved up Europe with many of the countries in the East being given up to communist rule under Russia's Soviet Union and Stalin. At that time it was the dominance of the Big Three - Britain, America and Russia that ruled the world. The occupation of Germany and Japan by these powers also led to their rise to economic dominance in more recent years as well. They were so destroyed that they had to work hard and rebuild from scratch. It is worth remembering that much of today's global order was created as a legacy of the Second World War by Britain and America including the World Bank, NATO and the United Nations. 

But the perception of the British people regarding the EU appears to be of interference and rule by Brussels thereby leading to the fear that we are being ruled as a colony of the European collective which as outlined above seems too close for comfort to the United States of America - the colony that escaped from the British Empire. We don't like being ruled by others it seems!

I feel that these points are at the root of our philosophy as a nation and culture as well as perhaps informing our BREXIT decision. When negotiating and developing our new role in the world these points would be worth keeping in mind. They are at our core as a nation.

I think it is important to learn the lessons of our history but also take inspiration and joy from our history to build the future.

Alex

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