English Nationalism and British Disintegration

This original book analyses the relationship between English nationalism and the disintegrative dynamics affecting British politics from 2016-24.By situating English nationalism in historical and comparative contexts and arguing that the form and content of English nationalism is generated by a defence of British sovereignty, it shows how English nationalism has been an integrative force in England's plurinational polities for most of its history.This changed notably during Brexit when English nationalism was mobilised by Brexiteers, leading to the disintegration of the European Union.But this same force also heightened disintegrative tendencies within the United Kingdom itself.Wellings charts the post-Brexit attempts to return a now politically salient Englishness to an integrative British mode, invoking its habitual British register.These historic shifts occurred during a particularly turbulent period of British politics as the UK withdrew from the EU, steered a path through the Covi