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Debate on 19th June: Britishness This Library Note aims to provide background information for the debate to be held on Thursday 19th June: “To call attention to the concept of Britishness in the context of the cultural, historical, constitutional and ethical tradition of the peoples of these islands” This Note provides an overview of the various debates that have taken place on the concept of Britishness. These include historical accounts, current commentaries and research into public attitudes. The Note also considers various Government proposals regarding British citizenship, shared values and rights and responsibilities, along with reaction to these proposals. Ian Cruse 16th June 2008 LLN 2008/015 House of Lords Library Notes are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of the Notes with the Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public. Any comments on Library Notes should be sent to the Head of Research Services, House of Lords Library, London SW1A 0PW or emailed to [email protected]. Table of Contents 1. The Backdrop to Debates on Britishness, National Identity and Citizenship ................ 1 1.1 The Concept of National Identity ............................................................................. 1 1.2 Britishness as a Historical Phenomenon ................................................................. 1 1.3 Britishness as a Social and Legal Construct—British Citizenship ........................... 2 1.4 Views of Britishness as a Current National Identity................................................. 2 1.5 Multiculturalism and Britishness .............................................................................. 4 1.6 The Decline of Britishness?..................................................................................... 5 2. Recent Debates on the Future of Britishness ............................................................... 6 2.1 The Fabian Society—The Future of Britishness...................................................... 6 2.2 Prospect—Britain Rediscovered.............................................................................. 7 2.3 Gordon Brown at the Fabian Society: The Future of Britishness ............................ 7 2.4 House of Lords Debate on British Identity and Citizenship ..................................... 8 2.5 Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)—Who Are We? Identities in Britain..... 9 2.6 Ruth Kelly and Liam Byrne: A Common Place ........................................................ 9 2.7 David Cameron: Stronger Together ...................................................................... 10 2.8 Lord Baker’s Proposal for a Museum of Britishness.............................................. 11 2.9 Gordon Brown: We Must Defend the Union .......................................................... 11 3. Polling Data on Britishness and British Values ........................................................... 11 3.1 IPSOS MORI—Race No Barrier to Britishness (May 2002) .................................. 12 3.2 British Social Attitudes Survey—Dimensions of Being British (2004).................... 12 3.3 YouGOV/Telegraph—Britishness (July 2005) ....................................................... 13 3.4 Commission for Racial Equality—Race Relations 2006: A Research Study......... 13 3.5 British Social Attitudes Survey—The Regional Nature of Britishness (2007)........ 14 3.6 Camelot Foundation—Young People and British Identity (June 2007) ................. 14 3.7 BBC Asian Network—Young Asians and Britishness (July 2007)......................... 15 4. Government Policy...................................................................................................... 15 4.1 Citizenship Education ............................................................................................ 15 4.2 Citizenship Ceremonies and Life in the UK Tests ................................................. 16 4.3 Commission on Integration and Cohesion............................................................. 16 4.4 The Governance of Britain Green Paper ............................................................... 17 4.5 The Path to Citizenship ......................................................................................... 18 4.6 Youth Citizenship Commission.............................................................................. 18 4.7 Lord Goldsmith’s Review of Citizenship ................................................................ 18 4.8 The Flying of the Union Flag ................................................................................. 19 4.9 A Bill of Rights and Responsibilities and A Statement of British Values ............... 19 5. Reaction to Government Policies and Proposals........................................................ 19 5.1 Citizenship Education ............................................................................................ 19 5.2 The Governance of Britain Green Paper ............................................................... 20 5.3 A British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities ........................................................... 20 5.4 The Path to Citizenship ......................................................................................... 21 1. The Backdrop to Debates on Britishness, National Identity and Citizenship 1.1 The Concept of National Identity Historians and social scientists have considered at length what constitutes national identity. A full overview of the concept and the many debates it has engendered are beyond the scope of this paper. However, there are some general themes that can be mapped out. A number of early writers, such as Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Gottfried Herder, argued for a cultural definition of national identity based on the primordial ties of language and the notion of national culture as a living energy not imposed from above.1 Writers such as Ernest Gellner, suggested that though elements of pre-existing culture were not unimportant, national identity was more a product of state formation, industrialisation and modernity and hence a product of the 18th and 19th centuries.2 Other writers, such as Eric Hobsbawm and Bendict Anderson, have argued that the concept of nation and national identity is essentially a socially engineered construct with elements of invented and imagined traditions.3 This latter approach also emphasised the importance of social phenomena, such as class. More recently, academics have sought to cast national identity as one of a number of ‘multiple’ or ‘fractured’ identities, mediated by other issues such as race, gender, ethnicity and religion and globalisation.4 The latter approach suggests that national identity could be experienced differently according to one’s social characteristics. Many accounts, however, offer a synthesis of some of these approaches. For instance, Anthony D. Smith suggests that national identity is the result of the interaction of the ethnic past and the forces of modernity.5 This approach has allowed social scientists to identify different types of national identity—civic and ethnic. Civic national identity refers to residence, shared political values, common civic institutions and shared language, whereas ethnic national identity is seen as being related to ancestry and emersion in national customs and traditions. 1.2 Britishness as a Historical Phenomenon The concept of Britishness has been the source of some recent debate amongst historians. Some commentators have noted that the study of Britishness as a distinct national identity is complicated by the fact that many accounts tend to conflate Britishness with Englishness, and often treat English events and trends as though they were synonymous with British developments.6 However, a number of historians have charted the development of Britishness as a distinct national identity. Linda Colley argues that Britain was an invented nation “heavily dependent for its raison d’etre on a broadly Protestant culture, on the threat and tonic of recurrent war, especially war with France, and on the triumphs, profits, and ‘otherness’ represented by a massive overseas 1 See Paul Lawrence, Nationalism: History and Theory, (2005), p. 4, and James McKay, ‘An Exploratory Synthesis of Primordial and Mobilisationist Approaches to Ethnic Phenomena’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 5 no. 4, (1982), p. 395–420. 2 Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, (1983). 3 For example, see Eric Hobsbawn, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780, (1992) and Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, (1991). 4 See for instance Paul Lawrence, Nationalism: History and Theory, (2005), p. 198–206; Harriet Bradley, Fractured Identities: Changing Patterns of Inequality, (1997); Mattei Dogan, ‘The Decline of Nationalisms within Western Europe’,Comparative Politics, vol. 26, no. 3 (April, 1994), pp. 281– 305. 5 See Anthony D. Smith ‘Gastronomy or geology? The role of nationalism in the reconstruction of nations’. Nations and Nationalism, vol. 1, no. 1, (1994), pp. 3–23. 6 See for instance Linda Colley, ‘Britishness and Otherness: An Argument’, The Journal of British Studies, vol. 31 no. 4, (October 1992), pp. 309–329. 1 empire”.7 Keith Robbins argues that the historical roots of Britishness are to be understood in relation to a ‘blending’ based on: the continued existence of historically established local and ethnic identities; the development of overarching political institutions;
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