“We're socialists not nationalists”: British labour and the national question(s)

Swan, Coree Brown

doi:10.1111/nana.12868

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(66 reference statements)

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“…In the last contribution, Brown Swan (2023) illustrates how, since 2012, the Labour Party has struggled to formulate a coherent British identity bridging national cleavages in the United Kingdom. Squeezed between rising substate nationalism in Edinburgh and Cardiff, on the one hand, and ‘hyper‐unionism’ in London, on the other hand, the party has relied on three main discursive strategies to reverse its electoral decline and avoid the fragmentation of Great Britain: redefining Britishness, emphasising social solidarity over national ties and promoting an instrumental understanding of the United Kingdom.…”

Section: Outline and Contributions Of The Themed Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Left(s) and Nationalism(s) in contemporary Western Europe

Mulle

Kernalegenn

2022

Nations and Nationalism

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This article introduces our themed section on The Left(s) and Nationalism(s), which provides a comparative analysis of the relationship between nationalism and different leftwing parties in Western Europe. It highlights the innovative comparative perspectives offered by this themed section, which not only concerns a series of different geographical cases studies but also involves the ideological plurality of the Left. The larger research question that our contributors address is how different left-wing parties have dealt with the inherent ideological tension between the universality claimed by the Left and the particularism inherent in nationalism, as a doctrine and a principle of political legitimacy. The article stresses three main contributions of our themed section: (1) Western European left-wing parties do engage with the themes of nationalism and nationhood, but they often rely on convenient silence to solve some of the contradictions with their progressive ideology. (2) None of these parties have formulated thick versions of the respective national identities. (3) State-wide left-wing parties have used instrumental conceptions of nationhood to address the challenge of separatist parties, but only with mixed results.

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Section: Outline and Contributions Of The Themed Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Left(s) and Nationalism(s) in contemporary Western Europe

Mulle

Kernalegenn

2022

Nations and Nationalism

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“…No references to the UK constitutional arrangements were made. of nationalist sentiments, allowing the party to sidestep pressing constitutional debates (Bennett et al, 2020;Brown Swan, 2022). But in resolving one problemsecuring a more stable alignment with the UK party-Scottish Labour now encountered another, as internal opposition to the party's subordinate status to London again became a divisive issue.…”

Section: Uk Labour Under Corbynmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour Party, 2015–2019

Swan

Kenny

2022

Parliamentary Affairs

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Despite having delivered devolution, the British Labour Party has faced significant challenges in adapting to, and competing effectively in, a multi-level political space. This article explores this dynamic in the context of a pivotal period of change (2015–2019), in which the party was led by Jeremy Corbyn, a political outsider, and when British politics was riven by Brexit. In this article we highlight the operation of a key strategic duality underlying the territorial politics pursued by both Scottish and Welsh Labour parties: an endemic and unresolved desire to seek greater autonomy from the UK party, on the one hand: and the preference to retain or gain influence at the centre of British politics, on the other. How these goals were pursued, and tensions between them managed by the territorial parties and their leaders, are central to an understanding of how the party handled the challenges created by devolution more broadly.

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Diverging electoral fortunes in Scotland and Wales: national identities, national interests, and voting behavior

Griffiths

Jones

Poole

et al. 2023

Regional & Federal Studies

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“We're socialists not nationalists”: British labour and the national question(s)

Abstract: Brown Swan, C. (2022). "We're socialists not nationalists": British labour and the national question(s). Nations and Nationalism.

Cited by 4 publications

References 52 publications

The Left(s) and Nationalism(s) in contemporary Western Europe

The Left(s) and Nationalism(s) in contemporary Western Europe

‘We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour Party, 2015–2019

Diverging electoral fortunes in Scotland and Wales: national identities, national interests, and voting behavior

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