While the British Empire is long gone, it survives as a recurring flashpoint in heated debates about the present and future of Britain and the nations over which Britain once ruled. Embers of Empire in Brexit Britain turns a critical eye to the widely-held notion that the long shadow of the imperial past has much to answer for, and asks to what extent should the residual after-effects of Britain's colonial empire be taken at face value? From the 'Rhodes must fall' controversy and contested anniversaries to immigration scares and the question of what Britishness is in a post-imperial world, an eclectic mix of expert researchers, writers and commentators consider the legacy of the British empire in the battle over Brexit. As the United Kingdom haggles its way out of the European Union and casts about for an alternative future, this volume shows how the memory of the empire is still as potent a political force as ever.

While the British Empire is long gone, it survives as a recurring flashpoint in heated debates about the present and future of Britain and the nations over which Britain once ruled. Embers of Empire in Brexit Britain turns a critical eye to the widely-held notion that the long shadow of the imperial past has much to answer for, and asks to what extent should the residual after-effects of Britain's colonial empire be taken at face value? From the 'Rhodes must fall' controversy and contested anniversaries to immigration scares and the question of what Britishness is in a post-imperial world, an eclectic mix of expert researchers, writers and commentators consider the legacy of the British empire in the battle over Brexit. As the United Kingdom haggles its way out of the European Union and casts about for an alternative future, this volume shows how the memory of the empire is still as potent a political force as ever.

Examining the pivotal period between the end of the Seven Years' War and the dawn of the American Revolution, Envisioning Empire reinterprets the development of the British Empire in the 18th century. With exceptional geographical scope, this book provides new ways of understanding the actors and events in many imperial arenas, including West Africa, North America, the Caribbean, and South Asia. While 1763 has long been seen as marking a turning point in British and British-colonial history, Envisioning Empire treats this epochal year, and the decade that followed, as constituting a discrete 'moment' in Imperial history that is significant in its own right. Exploring the programs and plans that sought to incorporate the vast new territories and millions of new subjects into the British state and imperial system, it demonstrates how the period between the end of the Seven Years' War and the beginning of the American Revolution was one of contested ideas about the future of British overseas expansion. By examining these competing imperial visions and designs from the perspective of Britain's new subjects as well as from that of British ministers, Envisioning Empire both illuminates and complicates the boundaries that have been drawn between the first and second British empires and reveals how the Empire was being conceived, discussed, and debated during an era of rapid transformation.

An interpretation of the demise of the traditional ties between Australia and Great Britain during the 1960s. Until a generation ago 'Britishness' lay at the heart of Australian political culture. This text gives a viewpoint of how the idea of Britishness lost its meaning for Australians and their political institutions. Argues that the transformation was due not to the traditional view of Australia's growing nationalism, but rather to Britain's move away from 'Empire' towards the European Economic Community. Includes notes, bibliography and index. Author is a lecturer in history at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, London, and at the University of Southern Denmark. He previously wrote 'Courting the Common Market' and 'British Culture at the End of Empire'.

Panoramic, transnational history of the Falklands War and its imperial dimensions, which explores how a minor squabble mushroomed into war.

Relations between Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China have oscillated between outright hostility and wary detente ever since the Archipelago seceded from the Communist mainland over six decades ago. While the mainland has long coveted the island, Taiwan has resisted - aided by the United States which continues to play a decisive role in cross-strait relations today. In this comprehensive analysis, noted China specialist Steven Goldstein shows that although relations between Taiwan and its larger neighbor have softened, underlying tensions remain unresolved. These embers of conflict could burst into flames at any point, engulfing the whole region and potentially dragging the United States into a dangerous confrontation with the PRC Guiding readers expertly through the historical background to the complexities of this fragile peace, Goldstein discusses the shifting economic, political and security terrain, and examines the pivotal role played by the United States in providing weapons and diplomatic support to Taiwan whilst managing a complex relationship with an increasingly powerful China. Drawing on a wealth of newly declassified material, this compelling and insightful book is an invaluable guide to one of the worlds riskiest, long-running conflicts.

Ancient Greece first coined the concept of "democracy", yet almost every major ancient Greek thinker-from Plato and Aristotle onwards- was ambivalent towards or even hostile to democracy in any form. The explanation for this is quite simple: the elite perceived majority power as tantamount to a dictatorship of the proletariat. In ancient Greece there can be traced not only the rudiments of modern democratic society but the entire Western tradition of anti-democratic thought. In Democracy, Paul Cartledge provides a detailed history of this ancient political system. In addition, by drawing out the salient differences between ancient and modern forms of democracy he enables a richer understanding of both. Cartledge contends that there is no one "ancient Greek democracy" as pure and simple as is often believed. Democracy surveys the emergence and development of Greek politics, the invention of political theory, and-intimately connected to the latter- the birth of democracy, first at Athens in c. 500 BCE and then at its greatest flourishing in the Greek world 150 years later. Cartledge then traces the decline of genuinely democratic Greek institutions at the hands of the Macedonians and-subsequently and decisively-the Romans. Throughout, he sheds light on the variety of democratic practices in the classical world as well as on their similarities to and dissimilarities from modern democratic forms, from the American and French revolutions to contemporary political thought. Authoritative and accessible, Cartledge's book will be regarded as the best account of ancient democracy and its long afterlife for many years to come.