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3 - ‘British with a Small “b”’: The Impress of Internationalism

from Part I - Prologue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2023

Stuart Ward
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
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Summary

Part 1 of the book concludes by considering the paradoxical effects of two World Wars, at once harnessing an unprecedentedly vast emotional and material reservoir in the service of a common cause while at the same time ushering in a new era of ‘internationalism’ that would ultimately strip the British world-system of its effectiveness and fundamental rationale. Reformers in the interwar years sought to breathe new life into imperial Britishness ‘with a small “b”’ (in the words of Australia’s Keith Hancock) alluding to a more inclusive concept embracing a ‘diverse family of many kindreds and languages’ . By tracing interwar developments across three key interfaces - political thought, economic cooperation, and Indigenous rights advocacy - the shortcomings of this aspirational new Commonwealth are laid bare. Such was the long ascendancy of race in the hierarchy of Greater Britain that it could not easily be cast to one side.

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Chapter
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Untied Kingdom
A Global History of the End of Britain
, pp. 72 - 100
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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