British Policy Research Articles

Merchants, Maidens, and Mohammedans: A History of Muslim Stereotypes in Sinhala Literature of Sri Lanka

AbstractThis article analyzes stereotypes of Muslims that have recurred in Sinhala literature over the past seven centuries. This temporal span includes (1) a precolonial time when Muslims were a curiosity in Sinhala poetry as rich traders, wild men, and seductive women; (2) an early colonial time when the Portuguese and Dutch displaced more Muslims into the island interior, and Sinhala authors increasingly wrote of them as religious others akin to Tamils; and (3) a late colonial time when British policies forged religo-racial political categories in the decades leading up to the anti-Muslim pogroms of 1915. Each case is also connected to postcolonial instantiations or transformations of these typecasts. This history therefore eschews linear narratives of change to show the recurrent tendencies of social reasoning through stereotyping, past and present.

SECURITY DYNAMICS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA: THE ROLE OF THE UK AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON REGIONAL SECURITY

Post-Brexit, Britain completely overhauled its foreign policy framework by adopting a 'Global Britain' strategy with the aim of demonstrating global leadership. The UK said that there had been geopolitical and geoeconomics shifts, including the rise of China's power and the increasing importance of the Indo-Pacific for global prosperity and security as well as the potential for new markets to emerge and the growth of the global middle class. In realizing the UK's existence in the world, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, the UK considers the strategic position of the Southeast Asia region which is included as part of the four pillars of British foreign policy. Southeast Asia has become an arena for the struggle for the influence of global powers, especially China and the United States. Changes in British Foreign Policy which focuses on the Southeast Asia region will certainly have strategic consequences in the region, especially regional security, especially the South China Sea Dispute which involves most of the ASEAN member countries. The problem raised in this study is how the dynamics of security in the Southeast Asia region after the change in the focus of British foreign policy to Southeast Asia and its impact on regional security. The writing of this article uses qualitative research methods to write to describe the complexity of regional security through patterns of relations between countries in the region and countries outside the region, as well as the role of global powers.

Business as Usual? The Post-Brexit Impacts on UK and UAE Relations

Since the formal leaving of the United Kingdom from the European Union on January 31, 2020, much discussion has focused on the consequences for British foreign policy. Predictions broadly fit into two outcomes: internationalism, echoed in the “global Britain” mantra, and isolationism, with a Britain struggling to be heard on the world stage. As British foreign and trade policies are being shaped by a desire to seek out new friends, and reaffirm contacts with old ones, the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf Cooperation Council country with a palpable set of linkages to the UK, will be impacted. Military, diplomatic and economic ties are robust, but the UAE’s position, particularly in light of its rising-power regional status, requires investigation. With some believing British influence will be stymied by its non-EU status, and with a UAE that has reversed its traditional nonintervention status to become more regionally resurgent, what would this mean for future UK–UAE relations? This article seeks to provide an early snapshot of the post-Brexit relationship between the two.

Quantitative Estimation of Ecocultural Bearing Capacity of Urban Agglomerations in Britain

Aiming at the imbalance of urban ecological carrying capacity, this paper proposes a method to estimate the ecological and cultural carrying capacity of British urban agglomeration. The difference method and standardization method are used for positive combination and dimensionless processing of the indicators to realize the data preprocessing of the indicators. Through questionnaire survey, consulting relevant scholars and experts, and referring to the specified values in relevant British policies, determine the ideal value of the index. The index weight is determined by the open-scoring method. According to the index weight, the ecological and cultural carrying capacity of British urban agglomeration is calculated by vector model method. Calculate the index weight according to the ideal value of the index and the ecological text. The strength of ecological culture carrying capacity is calculated by the actual value of carrying capacity. Taking London urban agglomeration as the experimental object, this paper calculates the ecological and cultural carrying capacity and analyzes the ecological and cultural carrying capacity of three subsystems. The results show that this method can effectively estimate the ecological and cultural carrying capacity of British urban agglomeration.

4 - Embattled Identity in Northeast Africa: A Comparative Essay

The Northeast African sub-region has been ridden with inter-state and intra- state conflicts since the beginning of the second half of the last century. And most of those conflicts have their roots in the clash of identities. In the pre- colonial period, language and religion constituted the major expressions of iden- tity. While Ethiopia and the Sudan evolved as a mosaic of diverse linguistic and religious groups, Somalia was characterized by relative homogeneity. Colonial rule created sharply defined international boundaries and partitioned some populations among two or more states. This state of affairs gave rise to irredentist movements, the most prominent two manifesting themselves in Eritrea and So- malia. Irredentism was abetted by the British policy of Greater Somalia, which led to a period of armed confrontation between Ethiopia and Somalia. Con- versely, in the Sudan, the British followed a deliberate policy of separating the South from the North; this was one of the factors behind the eruption of the civil war in the Sudan. While colonial rule might have sown the seeds for the numer- ous conflicts that have plagued the sub-region in the post-colonial period, the situation was aggravated by the assimilationist and integrationist ambitions of hegemonic regimes and the inability of liberation movements to aspire beyond the narrow confines of self-determination. The future salvation of the sub-re- gion seems to lie in the fostering of genuinely pluralistic societies that recognize the merits of multiple identities and aspire for a sub regional confederation rather than the continued veneration of the nation-state.

Pope's Day and the Language of Popery in Eighteenth‐Century New England

This article explains how American colonists' commemoration of religious conflicts in the past, particularly the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, gradually diverged from British systems of discourse. In the Revolutionary Era, Americans commemorated Guy Fawkes Day, a holiday which had initially been established by the king of England to solidify English nationalism, so as to criticise and overthrow British governance. The perseverance of Guy Fawkes Day, or “Pope's Day,” in eighteenth‐century New England, where Puritan authorities declared the holiday illegal, testified to its anti‐authoritarian as well as anti‐Catholic appeal among common people. The apocalyptic pitch of anti‐Catholicism reached a new height in colonial America during the so‐called First Great Awakening of the 1740s as conflicts with the French and Indians escalated. During the 1760s, the Pope's Day constituency of Boston, initially bent on liberating themselves from official interference at the local level, turned their animus against recent British policies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, and eventually transformed themselves into revolutionary crowds, chanting, “No King, No Popery!” In the early United States, anti‐Catholic sentiment no longer promoted English nationalism, but it remained a powerful source of American identity and a potent motivation for rebellion against local authorities.

Elite–mass agreement in British foreign policy

Abstract Thirty years ago, William Wallace likened British foreign policy to a musical tug-of-war between the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ and ‘Europeans’, attributing ‘all the best tunes’ to the former. This article revisits Wallace's thesis and its main concept: national identity. It finds that Wallace was right to draw attention to the power of the ruling elite to shape Englishness and Britishness. However, the article also finds that ‘global’ foreign policy ideas were never the exclusive province of a segment of the British elite. Rather, they circulated in English and more broadly British society writ large, reflecting and reinforcing deep-seated, even unselfconscious, agreements between both ‘Anglo-Saxon’ and ‘European’ elites on the one hand, and much of the mass consumer public on the other. It follows that the constraints posed on possibilities of foreign policy change were always greater than Wallace had suggested; that a ‘lesser’ British foreign policy that was, and still is, so hard to imagine for the British is significant for analysis of dynamics of ‘western’ knowledge production that come under critique in this special issue. But rather than focusing exclusively on elites, critical analyses of knowledge exchange should be attuned to popular common sense, too.

British slave emancipation and the demand for Brazilian sugar

This paper studies the effect of British slave emancipation on the sugar industry in the north-east of Brazil. Combining pre-existing annual data on Brazilian exports and British, French, American and Hanseatic imports with a new monthly series of imports to Liverpool and New York, I argue that the British policies following emancipation were related to a rapid increase in the demand for Brazilian sugar in the British market towards the end of mid-century. The results of an interrupted time series analysis show that the effect was particularly large following the end of apprenticeship in 1838 and the passage of the Sugar Act in 1846. I estimate that over the period 1827–1853, slave emancipation increased Brazil’s market share by around five per cent, which corresponded to between 15 and 28 per cent of the volume of Brazilian exports. A comparison with markets unaffected by such policy treatments demonstrates that these trends were confined to the British market.

Britannia Overwhelmed? Reconsidering British Foreign Policy from European Community Membership to the End of the Cold War, 1973-1990

ABSTRACT This analysis revisits Britain’s reorientation towards Europe following its European Community [EC] membership during the 1970s and 1980s. Looking at British policy towards China, the United States, and key EC member-states, Britain tried to pursue its national interests from a distinctively European platform, and played an important part in the emergence of a coherent Western European voice on the international stage at the time. Yet the lack of an overarching European strategy, the ignorance of spill-over factors between different foreign policy areas, and the personal temperaments of Britain’s political leaders all meant that the European turn in British foreign policy was rarely visible to contemporaries and ultimately remained incomplete at best.

Oil and the Falklands/Malvinas: oil companies, governments and Islanders

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates that oil has been a factor in British policy towards the Falkland Islands since the 1970s. It charts the changing perspectives of oil companies and considers how these have informed British policy. Multinational companies have shown varying degrees of interest in exploring for oil around the Islands, but have remained wary of operating in a region with a contested legal status. The article also considers the attitudes of Islanders towards oil exploration. It analyses the contribution of oil to the local economy today and its potential impact on the local population and the environment.

The End of the ‘Special Relationship’? The Heath-Nixon Years in Perspective

ABSTRACT The Heath-Nixon years, 1970–1974, have been widely characterised as marking a low point in Anglo-American relations, even the end of the so-called ‘special relationship’. Overall, historians and commentators have tended to point the finger at Edward Heath, the British prime minister. As a committed Europhile, Heath is said to have deliberately downgraded relations with Washington in pursuit of membership of the European Economic Community [EEC], making the old habits of transatlantic co-operation impossible. Drawing on material from both sides of the Atlantic, this analysis presents a different perspective. Far from marking a transformation of British foreign policy, Heath’s determination to join the EEC stood as part of a longstanding effort to reinvigorate Britain’s place in the world, including the alliance with Washington. Moreover, when it came to diplomatic relations, largely, it was the nature of policy-making under President Richard Nixon – assisted by his chief advisor, Henry Kissinger – that undermined the old patterns of co-operation. As the White House set out to transform international relations, overhaul the global economic order, and impose its Cold War rivalry on regional crises, London was left feeling impotent, marginalised, and even double-crossed – all of which fuelled the case for Europe.

Gdańsk in British Diplomacy, 1945–1989

Great Britain participated in the decision at the Potsdam Conference to hand over to Poland the territory of the former Free City of Danzig. The area was not recognized as part of Germany by the Great Powers. The aim of the article is to analyze the role that Gdańsk played in British policy towards Poland from the end of the Second World War to the fall of communist rule. It is based on archival research in the National Archives, Kew, supplemented by published British and Polish diplomatic documents, diaries and academic literature on the subject. Based on these sources, the author argues that the importance of the city of Gdańsk in British policy toward the region of East Central Europe diminished during the Cold War in comparison to the city’s role as the Free City of Danzig 1919–1939. However, its place was dynamic as Gdańsk became an important center of protests against the communist authorities in the 1970s and 1980s. The city played a special role since the strikes in August 1980, becoming the center of activity of the Solidarity Trade Union. The culmination of British interest was Margaret Thatcher’s visit to Gdańsk in 1988.

British Colonial Land Use Policies and Housing Development in Lagos

This paper highlights the changing pattern of town planning and housing development in Lagos between 1900 and 1960, a period that witnessed the implementation of several colonial housing policies. Existing scholarship has overlooked the role that colonial land use policies played in the uneven town planning and housing development in Lagos. Drawing on a large body of colonial records and secondary sources, this paper analyses the impact of the British colonial government policies on housing development in colonial Lagos. Archival sources collected from the National Archive of Nigeria, Ibadan, and The National Archive (TNA), Kew, and secondary sources were critically engaged through a qualitative historical method. The uneven and combined development concept is deployed in depicting the biased housing development policies of the British government in Lagos. The British colonial land use policies impacted negatively on physical planning and housing development in Lagos. Colonial town planning schemes, sanitation regulations, and building laws precipitated the contemporary problem of uneven development that has impeded inclusive development in Lagos.

Британское присутствие в Индийском океане: перспективы расширения

The article explores the possibility of strengthening and expanding the British political and military presence in the Indian Ocean, its probable goals, objectives, methods and means there. The main purpose of the study is to consider the possibility activating the British military policy in this area, to assess the importance of the Indian Ocean region for London, the prospect of direct expansion of the military presence, the role of British private military companies and alternative methods of influence. The paper analyzes current trends and problems in the foreign and security policy of the United Kingdom. The relevance of the study is due to the change in the British architecture of foreign policy and the perception of its place in international relations. Using system and comparative analysis methods of research, the author concludes the growing probability of expanding the British military presence in the Indian Ocean in the medium and long term. Modern British navy firearms status can allow to increase the intensity of the British military presence in the Indian Ocean. Also, this circumstance may activate Great Britain’s foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region. It should be noted that the strengthening of the British fleet can be called a marker of the desire of the United Kingdom to become a global player in the international arena. To achieve this goal, almost all possible means of strengthening the capabilities of the UK’s hard power are used: the navy, private military companies, as well as new military alliances such as AUKUS. The work on intensifying the influence in the Indo-Pacific region is a part of the British foreign policy on global strengthening, and should be considered in the context of other regions: Ukraine, Turkey and Northern Europe. Nevertheless, at the moment, the results of such activities cannot be called completely predictable.

The Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme: A Site of Change and Conservatism

By focusing on the notorious Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme, this paper examines the evolution of British development policy in an East African colony throughout the pre-and post-war eras. I begin by detailing the historiography of writing on the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme, connecting the shift in tone and focus of historians to broader trends in academia and perceptions of Africa, and then continue to provide an overview of pre-war colonial policy in Tanganyika. After laying out this framework, I highlight the profound impact of World War Two on British thought and the ways in which this translated to development policy, accounting for the general support for the Groundnut Scheme. Finally, this paper details the progressive breaks from Britain's previous approach to colonialism in Tanganyika while also addressing the persistence of conservative, regressive mindsets. Ultimately, this paper serves to highlight the contradictory nature of British colonial policy during the mid-twentieth century.

British colonial policies and the challenge of national unity in Nigeria, 1914-2014

The symbolic importance of the 1914 amalgamation in Nigeria’s history is not in doubt. It was the year that the British colonial administration brought the culturally diverse peoples of Nigeria together under one central administration. However, 100 years after the amalgamation, Nigeria has been unable to build a nation or run the semblance of a modern state despite abundant natural and human resources. Harmonious co-existence between and among the country’s constituent parts has proved most elusive. Relying on primary and secondary sources, this paper critically examines the nexus between the 1914 amalgamation and the British colonial policies that followed, on the one hand, and the challenge of national unity and harmonious inter-ethnic relations in Nigeria’s centennial on the other. It argues that the challenge of national unity in post-colonial Nigeria had its root in the nature and structure of the country’s foundation laid by the British in 1914. It posits that the way that Nigeria was structured by the British, the colonial policies under which the country was administered, and the nature of the transfer of power from Britain to Nigeria, bore the destructive cancer of imbalances that the British deliberately inculcated into the Nigeria project. These resulted in fault lines and fissures that have made it difficult for the constituent parts of post-colonial Nigeria to cohere. The paper submits that Nigeria’s lopsided colonial structural foundation, which is still being maintained, has remained a severe challenge to national cohesion and harmonious inter-ethnic coexistence in post-colonial Nigeria.

Britanci i vojni puč 27. marta 1941. godine

The author reconstructs the role of the British factor in the preparation and execution of the Coup d'état on March 27, 1941 in Yugoslavia on the basis of published and unpublished British, Yugoslav and German archival records, memoires and literature. According to this research, both civilian and military British intelligence were involved in the preparation of the Coup, although there was not always the coordination between their actions. After the fall of France, the British side started to invest several times greater amount of money in the creation of public opinion in Yugoslavia in favor of the Allies' goals. At the same time, in mid1940, the main initiative for conducting the Coup d'état came from the Yugoslav side, from Yugoslav General Borivoje Mirković. The conspirator's organization was founded earlier. The impulse for its establishment was given by the Czechs and the Soviets during the Sudeten crisis in September 1938. The predominantly Serb Yugoslav officers who took part in the conspiracy were mostly unsatisfied with the way of the solution of the Croatian issue. The British policy at the highest level just used it later in the most crucial moment for their interests with the aim to change the vectors of the Yugoslav state policy. The main British interest was to use the Yugoslav Army and territory for the protection of unprotected left flank of the Greek Army during the potential clash with the Wehrmacht.

The “War Alert” in the Middle East in 1923: The Story of a Forgotten Crisis

This article focuses on a previously unexplored episode in the history of international relations, related to the temporary suspension of the Lausanne Conference on the Middle East in February 1923, which threatened to revive a state of war between Turkey and the Entente powers. This crisis, which unfolded at the same time as the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, had a significant impact on the final outcome of the peace settlement in the Middle East enshrined in the Lausanne Treaty. The aim of the article is to determine the place and role of this crisis in the process of establishing a new system of international relations after the Great War and its interconnection with other major events and processes of this period. The author consecutively analyses two phases of this crisis, the first relating to the Turkish demand for the withdrawal of the ships of the Allied Powers from its ports, and the second to the sharp aggravation of the situation on the Turkish-Syrian border. The crisis demonstrated the inability of France to defend its interests in the Middle East “single-handedly” and its forced dependence on British policy. Thus, its role in the development of international relations in the Middle East was similar to that played by the Ruhr Crisis in Europe. The paper draws on numerous sources, primarily British, French and Italian diplomatic documents.

The Problem of the Chinese Revolution in Soviet-British Relations 1925—1927 (a View from Moscow and London)

The essay deals with a comparative analysis of Soviet and British diplomatic activities in China during the so-called second, nationalist revolution of 1925—1927. The author consistently examines the goals and objectives of Moscow and London in the Far East, focusing on the common features and differences of the views and opinions expressed by various factions among power elites in both countries. Much attention is also paid to highlighting the modification of Soviet and British regional policy while taking into consideration the existence of the Versailles-Washington world order.

Attempts to Strengthen the Alliance with the United States as an Element of Post-Brexit Foreign Policy of the United Kingdom

The article is devoted to the analysis of the United Kingdom’s foreign policy after its withdrawal from the European Union, which finally took place on February 1, 2020. Brexit made it necessary to redefine British foreign policy, including modification of the strategy aimed not only at maintaining but even strengthening the global position of the United Kingdom. A key element of this new strategy seems to be the strengthening of the US-British alliance, traditionally referred to as the Special Relationship. The author tries to prove the thesis that for the British government, reinforcing the cooperation with the United States is one of the most important ways to counteract the negative effects of Brexit. The experience so far shows, however, that it is not so easy, because after leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom has become for the United States, for many reasons, an increasingly less attractive partner.