Towards ‘Global Britain’ ? Theresa May and the UK’s Role in the World after Brexit

Centenary celebrations meet a farewell party: British-Czech bilateral relations in the times of Brexit

“…Matters stand differently for the United Kingdom, with British representatives having developed a rhetoric of conviction that Brexit will not weaken the British relationship with the Czech Republic but will instead serve as a catalyst to strengthen it. This is well in line with the ‘Global Britain’ motto (politically very useful at the domestic level) whereby the British government has been ‘painting Brexit as a unique opportunity to rethink its foreign and security policy: stronger, more influential, more global’ (Major and von Ondarza, 2018: 1; for an informed discussion, see Glencross and McCourt, 2018 or Harrois, 2018).…”

Little Englanders or Big Britainers? TheUKandEUrole conceptions during the Brexit bill debate

“…Additionally, Strong (2018) has highlighted how elite versus popular rifts have produced a wide range of contestations with Britain's "faithful ally" and "regional partner" statuses threatened by the specter of a "protectionist" and "isolationist" Britain. Relatedly, Harrois (2018) investigates Prime Minister Theresa May's, 2017 invocation of "global Britain" and concludes that an Anglosphere that would prefer to trade with the EU, and a Britain marred by a lack of resources, as well as expedition fatigue, will stymie any attempt to internationalize a British presence. Gaskarth (2014) has also provided a number of important role orientations including "influential actor," "isolate," "regional partner," and "great power," which have been articulated in other studies, as well as innovative formulations including "influential (rule of law) state," "thought leader," and "opportunistinterventionist."…”

“…Additionally, Strong (2018) has highlighted how elite versus popular rifts have produced a wide range of contestations with Britain's “faithful ally” and “regional partner” statuses threatened by the specter of a “protectionist” and “isolationist” Britain. Relatedly, Harrois (2018) investigates Prime Minister Theresa May's, 2017 invocation of “global Britain” and concludes that an Anglosphere that would prefer to trade with the EU, and a Britain marred by a lack of resources, as well as expedition fatigue, will stymie any attempt to internationalize a British presence. Gaskarth (2014) has also provided a number of important role orientations including “influential actor,” “isolate,” “regional partner,” and “great power,” which have been articulated in other studies, as well as innovative formulations including “influential (rule of law) state,” “thought leader,” and “opportunist‐interventionist.” The “influential (rule of law) state” is produced through multilateralist, rights/justice, and law‐abiding conceptions while the “thought leader” role, in relation to the declining influence of the UK, is formed through the need to “adopt and excel in the role of thought leader, recognizing that it will often have greater comparative advantage in this area than in the ‘endgame’ on key risks, where larger powers will tend to dominate” (Evans & Steven, 2010, p. 14, cited in Gaskarth, 2014, p. 575).…”

A Rhetorical Political Analysis of Theresa May’s Statecraft on Brexit

“…Andrew Gamble (2019, p. 181) identifies an Anglosphere orientation in Global Britain and the policy proposals associated with it, and the plans for trade deals with Commonwealth and Anglosphere nations after Brexit, were dubbed 'Empire 2.0' in Whitehall (Coates and Leroux, 2017). Indeed, Global Britain's Anglo-orientation is perceived by its supporters as a 'return to old friends' (Mycock, 2017), and so despite May's use of it to foster optimism about the future, the identity is fundamentally 'fraught with nostalgia' (Harrois, 2018), specifically for Britain's history of Empire (Davies, 2018a). The Anglosphere idea, as two of its most astute observers have commented, is 'politically implausible but ideologically potent' (Kenny and Pearce, 2016).…”