Abstract

As Britain negotiated its way out of the EU, the Conservative government launched a new foreign policy outlook for British foreign policy after Brexit: ‘Global Britain’. This talk will examine the ideas and accompanying practices associated with this controversial vision. It is neither a defence nor another normative critique, but an attempt critically to understand how its advocates have used Global Britain to construct British foreign policy post-Brexit. The central claim is that Global Britain has more to it than its detractors presume on the policy side, but, crucially, much less than its supporters require on the narrative side to market it to domestic and international audiences. Assuming Brexit goes ahead in March 2019, the now is to imbue it with a positive sense of purpose by going beyond the story currently in play – of Britain effecting a ‘Great Escape’ from the EU.

Dr Oliver Daddow is Assistant Professor in British Politics and Security at the University of Nottingham and an Affiliate Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge. His research interests are in British foreign policy, Brexit and discourse analysis. His key publications include ‘Britain and Europe since 1945’ (Manchester University Press), ‘New Labour and the European Union’ (Manchester University Press), a textbook on International Relations Theory (Sage) and he co-edits the textbook ‘Politics UK’ (Routledge). He is currently writing a book on the history of British exceptionalism in international relations.