PolIR recently welcomed Dr Philip Cunliffe (UCL) to talk about his new book, The National Interest. In a world where national interests are increasingly asserted – not least by the current White House incumbent – Cunliffe argued that Britain is behind the game. He pointed to the idea and value of Britain as a nation being challenged by electorally insurgent separatist parties in Scotland and Wales. He also suggested that the national agenda is being stymied by policy elites’ reticence over expressions of identify such as flying the national flag.
Elite hesitancy about pushing the national interest was traced by Cunliffe to deliberate attempts by post-war governments to delegitimise national politics. He highlighted a desire to move from the primacy of nation-states to the primacy of member-states, with national politics subordinated to the interests of trans-national institutions. For both the Right and Left, national politics contained unwelcome pathologies, and engagement with the international arena was seen as a way of addressing – or even of avoiding – these.
Cunliffe argued that the time is now right for a re-assertion of national politics. Pressing issues such as climate change strategies, immigration and economic choices needed, he said, to be explicitly considered and resolved in the light of national interests. Doing so promised a route to a reinvigorated politics of self-rule and democratic accountability.