“Global Britain”: from Idea to Implementation

Abstract

The article explores a new British foreign policy agenda under the catchy slogan of “Global Britain”. Over time, the thesis of Global Britain has been viewed by the British leadership as a matrix for a new foreign policy. This slogan is still being filled with various conceptual elements and real political, trade and economic steps. The concept of Global Britain is analyzed through UK-US relations, the Commonwealth and cooperation with the EU in the period before and after Brexit. It is concluded that ideologically, Global Britain is not a set of fundamentally new ideas; rather, it is a reformatting with different accents of the previous foreign policy provisions (the well-known concept of the “Three Majestic Circles” by W. Churchill) and taking into account reducing its opportunities and leverage in the European Union and the European region as a whole and attempts to reorient the economy, trade and financial relations towards the dynamically developing countries of Asia and other regions. It is highlighted that the difficult and protracted negotiations on Britain‟s withdrawal from the EU and UK snap elections in 2019 slowed down the filling of the concept with real content. At present, the future of the British foreign policy largely depends on the course of the new US President, the UK-EU cooperation, and the impact of pandemic on British economy.

E.V. From ‘Greater’ to ‘Global Britain’: The New and the Old in the Foreign Policy of the United Kingdom

“…Как известно, Соединенное Королевство в относительно недавнее время превратилось из страны эмиграции в государство иммиграции. Этот процесс был запущен после Второй мировой войны в условиях нехватки рабочих рук для послевоенного восстановления, когда согласно Акту 1948 г. подтверждался свободный въезд для выходцев из колоний и Содружества 13 .…”

Issues of Democratic Development and Construction of National Identity at the End of the Age of Imitations: Editorial Introduction

“…seriously put to test during the Brexit period, splitting the country in half between the supporters and the opponents of leaving the EU. The UK is now in the process of forming its own foreign and defense policy, while refusing to discuss it with Brussels [Khakhalkina 2021], and is revising the political ideologies on which party life was based [Aleshin 2019]. Brexit also proved to be a serious challenge for the national identity of a state entity as complex as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, since the majority of the population of Scotland and Northern Ireland had no wish of leaving the EU, and the majority of the English were inclined towards the exit.…”