The Great Britain, the UK (United Kingdom) and England are names that often get used interchangeably, but have key differences.
Great Britain comprises of autonomous regions such as Wales, Scotland and England. The UK is composed of Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England, sometimes referred as the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland or the Great Britain. The UK is a state that is sovereign. It is situated off the north western part of the European coast. The political unification of the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland or Great Britain was accomplished in 1800, the time when the parliament of Ireland was united together in Westminster with the parliament of Wales, Scotland and England. However, in 1922, Ireland separated itself as a state from the union.
As a result, the question still remains regarding the composition of the United Kingdom. England’s triple role refers to the political, economic and social influences that England has created in the UK. This essay elaborates the triple role of England within, England abroad and London as the main capital. London, as the main capital city of England acts as the bridge between foreign and domestic politics.
It also deals with the relations of UK with other nations, as well as the relations with the EU. London is the central location for mediating and managing domestics and foreign disputes. It acts as British’s central element of identity and strongly linked to the idea of UK as a super power. Domestic conflicts erode inner cohesion thus, threatening the security of England. On the other hand, UK policy makers face special relationship decline and react to violation of norms. Therefore, London acts as the powerdom of solving such matters.
The process of forming the United Kingdom started hundreds of years ago, and it took several years that involved various political, as well as personal unions. The formation process commenced during the thirteenth century when the King of England. Edward I invaded Wales with the ambition of conquering the region. England has exceptional close diplomatic, political, historical, economic, and military relations with the international community such as the US. In spite of US and England having close relations with several other countries, the degree of cooperation between them in commerce and trade, economic activity, military operations execution, military planning, intelligence sharing, as well as technology in nuclear weapon is unparalleled. The UK and the US have always been close associates in several political and military conflicts including WWI, WWII, the Cold War, War in Korea, the Gulf War, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq Invasion.
The other crisis is that Britain was never involved in the EU formation. Therefore, basic rules that were established by the founding states cannot be easily changed thus, those member states that join later encounter difficulties n adapting the rules that are already in place. Conducting business outside the European Union can present challenges to UK business due to long distances, as well as business cultures and language differences. However, it offers the UK a wide variety of better business opportunities. The UK possesses a trade relations network that is very strong with countries that are not members of the EU with an open market interest that complies with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules.
In cases when obstacles prevent overseas market access, the government of UK addresses the issue through the EU, as well as its own tactics. In instances where open market exists, the UK seeks to offer the EU support in settling commitments that are legally binding through agreements of bilateral trade means or WTO. On the other hand, the trade relations between the UK and the Commonwealth is diverse and close in that the commonwealth offers markets to the UK that provide wealth opportunities to all sectors of business in the UK. Furthermore, the secretariat of Commonwealth is in London.The union of the UK is also apparent from what is observed in huge events such as the Olympic Games or the Eurovision Song Contest whereby the nations that make up the UK participate in the events as a nation. On the other hand, such a perception offers a sense of belonging, as well as togetherness to supporters who are back at home as they celebrate or cheer their national anthem when their winners get awarded a medal.
Even though, some aspects exhibit the unity of the Kingdom, some other aspects such as happening and events reveal that the UK is composed of four diverse nations. For instance, the legal and education system in Scotland is quite dissimilar from that of the rest of Britain. Furthermore, Scotland maintains its own church, the Presbyterian Church. Therefore, such public life aspects are a continuous reminder of the distinctiveness of the nations that comprise the UK. Alternatively, the manner in which they speak English is quite diverse such that a language called “Scots”, which the majority of lowlands working class speaks is dissimilar to English to an extend that it cannot be comprehended by the Welsh or the English. Initially, Scotland had freely joined the unification.
However, the unification of the Welsh and the Irelands into Britain occurred because England used her military superiority to compel the nations into the unification. Since the invasion of England by the Germans, the development of industrial production mode and progress in agriculture created the largest disorder in people’s daily life patterns. Lands became scarce, millions moved to the city and new towns. As a result, the north that was initially backward economically turned out to be the country’s industrial heartland. On the other hand, Wales and Scotland had the right conditions that further led tto the accentuation of the differences among the other the three countries. This led to the dominance of Wales, not as an industrial centre, but rather as a trading and business centre.
When Britain became the colony, colonization became the matter of destiny. This resulted to Britain becoming the largest economic power in the world. As a result, Britain’s economic power, as well as several years of outstanding political stability offered a sense of supreme confidence to the British, as well as arrogance in regard to their civilization and culture. As rulers of an empire, Britain saw itself to have the moral obligation of spreading civilization and culture throughout the globe. The developments of nationalistic feelings that are very strong have resulted to the devolution in every region of UK. On the other hand, devolution in Scotland extends further; since 1999, Scotland has always had its parliament that has the power and right to decide on issues like law, education, home affairs, as well as the power to raise taxes.
Besides the devolution in Scotland and Wales, in Ireland, devolution has long developed roots. After Ireland was under the dominance of Britain for centuries, Ireland’s majority catholic population declared independence in 1916 from the union.The relationship that exists between the European Union (EU) and England has always been in a crisis with its roots originating from the identity crisis of peculiar English. The Welsh and the Scots are certain of their identity because for hundreds of years, they have embraced two identities-wider British and their own.
On the other hand, the EU has gone through several profound transformations that indicate that further changes of EU’s nature can occur in future. The member states number expansion proposal, single currency introduction in 1999, as well as sovereignty pooling will result to implications that are far reaching for every member state. Alternatively, Europe has indirectly or directly influenced the lookout for Northern Ireland political settlement. The EU crisis has always been perceived as the conflict between England and Ireland. Initially, Ireland’s defeat by England’s military was thought to be pursued by economic and political dominance, which led to the denial of a voice that is independent to Ireland.
The supranational European Union has always had, and will always have significant effect on the social, political and economic life of the Englanders. In conclusion, England plays a major role in the devolution of the European community. As discussed in the essay, it is apparent England’s relationship with the EU can be difficult as it cannot accommodate EU basic principles in which some rules conflict with the British constitution. On the other hand, the relation of England with the international community, as well as the Commonwealth is impressive.
