British to the Core

Abstract

This chapter traces how Falkland Islanders and their trustees have sought to salvage the British Empire with defense forces and by extracting natural resources. The chapter considers the Falkland Islands as a former British Crown Colony that is handled as an ongoing special and particular colonial case in international law. It takes an anthropological approach to geopolitics and explores how the settlers of the Falklands have constructed themselves as natives through everyday forms of environmental governance. The chapter argues that the Falkland Islanders have formed a settler colonial protectorate by claiming self-determination and consenting to British sovereignty. It discusses how the settler colonial protectorate has empowered the Falkland Islanders to own land, control territory, extract resources, conserve the environment, and, ultimately, to salvage the last bits of the British Empire from the tide of decolonization.