Crown and country: nationalism and Britishness in Scotland, Australia and England

Abstract

This thesis examines the ways in which Britishness has informed nationalism in Scotland, Australia and England. Nationalism is defined as the legitimation of a particular location of sovereignty, in which sovereignty can be vested in either the state or the people. This understanding is derived from the historical development of nationalism and the need to legitimate new or existing state structures in the novel social, economic and political conditions of the modern era. From 1707 the British ruling class sought to legitimate a multi-national state and empire. Structural features of the British state shaped the ideology of Britishness. The modem British state was created at the turn of the eighteenth century when distinct national identities were already forming in its constituent parts and the British economy was one of the most developed in the world. The legitimation of the sovereignty of state over the British Isles, resulted in the development of an ideology which justified the status quo as well as legitimised a multi-national polity. The expansion of the British Empire during the nineteenth century added an extra dimension to the language of legitimation. Britishness now also justified the appropriation of other people’s lands, as well as accommodating developing settler nationalisms. Britishness was an imperial ideology which conditioned the nationalism of the Empire’s constituent nations and continued to do so up to the present day. Scottish participation in the British project was predicated on the maintenance of a significant degree of autonomy, guaranteed by the terms of the Treaty of Union of 1707. When this autonomy became threatened during the 1980s, support for both home rule and independence grew, resulting in a successful referendum on the establishment of a Scottish parliament in 1997. This was not simply a rejection of Britishness, but a reassertion of Scottish autonomy. In contrast to Scotland, no successful alliance was created by Australian republicans in 1999. The minimalists’ adherence the sovereignty of Parliament precluded the sufficient mobilisation of popular opinion in support of the republic and allowed the minimalists to be effectively portrayed as “elitists”. It was ultimately the legacy of Britishness amongst the republicans, as much as the monarchists, which contributed to the defeat of the republic in 1999. Running parallel to, though rarely linked with, the campaign to establish an Australian republic, was the movement for Reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Britishness in Australia was re-asserted by the Right when countering the demands of Reconciliation’s supporters for restitution of indigenous grievances. The continuing sovereignty of the Crown-in-Parliament in England meant English nationalism was expressed as a legitimation of the British state, even after devolved assemblies had been created in other pails of the United Kingdom. Show more