The Future of Global Britain: A Faircloughian Discourse Analysis of British Foreign Policy in the Post-Brexit World
Author
Summary, in English
This thesis examines the Global Britain discourse and its articulation in the Integrated Review, a foreign policy paper, published by the British Government in March 2021. Global Britain is not a new phenomenon but an imperial legacy. The study highlights this legacy and underlines what British foreign policy focuses on in the future post-Brexit world. Faircloughian critical discourse analysis and Realist Constructivist theory are utilised in the study. The results show that the Integrated Review underline British strengths whilst undermining possible weaknesses. Additionally, the paper confirmed several aspects predicted by prior research about the post-Brexit world, such as the profiling of Britain as the leader of the Commonwealth—Suggesting a reinforcement of the Global Britain discourse in the future and post-Brexit context. The study also establishes that the Integrated Review could be considered an expression of Realist Constructivism. For example, the document confirms that agents intentionally reinforce social structures. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the document uses culture to politically project power. Therefore, it confirms that material assets’ articulations also involve social dimensions, which is a Realist reflection upon Constructivist perceptions of power structures.
Department/s
Publishing year
2021
Language
English
Document type
Student publication for Bachelor's degree
Topic
- Social Sciences
Keywords
- Global Britain
- Faircloughian discourse analysis
- British foreign policy
- Realist Constructivism
- European Studies
Supervisor
- Mattias Nowak