Modern
The English nationalist movement has its roots in a perception amongst many people in England that they are primarily or exclusively English rather than British, which mirrors the view in the other constituent countries. The perceived rise in English identity in recent years, as evidenced by the increased display of the English flag (particularly during international sporting competitions), is sometimes attributed in the media to the increased devolution of political power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
One possible incentive for supporting the establishment of self-governing English political institutions is the West Lothian question: the constitutional inconsistency whereby Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs in the UK Parliament are able to cast votes on bills which will apply only to England while English MPs have fewer such rights in relation to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislation, which is in many cases handled by the devolved legislatures.
Many contemporary English nationalist movements differ significantly from mainstream Scottish, Welsh and Cornish nationalist movements insofar as they are often associated with support for right-of-centre economic and social policies. Nationalists elsewhere in the UK tend towards a social democratic political stance, as evidenced by the policies of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru. There are, however many liberal and left-wing English nationalists, such as Labour MP Jon Cruddas and musician Billy Bragg. English nationalism is also often associated with Euroscepticism, one reason for opposition to the EU being the belief that England is being subdivided into regions at the behest of the European Union.
While there is in principle no conflict between the objectives of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalism, there is an inherent incompatibility between many forms of English nationalism and Cornish nationalism, since Cornwall is seen by some English nationalists as being an integral part of England. To the extent that it advocates the political separation of England from the (remainder of the) UK, English nationalism is not compatible with Scottish or Northern Irish Unionism.
Read more about this topic: English Nationalism
Famous quotes containing the word modern:
“Families have always been in flux and often in crisis; they have never lived up to nostalgic notions about “the way things used to be.” But that doesn’t mean the malaise and anxiety people feel about modern families are delusions, that everything would be fine if we would only realize that the past was not all it’s cracked up to be. . . . Even if things were not always right in families of the past, it seems clear that some things have newly gone wrong.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)
“O born in days when wits were fresh and clear,
And life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames;
Before this strange disease of modern life,
With its sick hurry, its divided aims,
Its head o’ertaxed, its palsied hearts, was rife—”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“As they get more nuclear
And more bigoted in reliance
On the gospel of modern science ...”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)