The Student Room Group

The Imperial Federation - Should it have gone ahead?

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Bagration
I suspect this is the position of every eurosceptic in the country. Nobody wants Britain to sit on its cold little island with her fingers in her ears. But neither do we want to be the 27th State of Europe. It's totally unreasonable to suggest that people against the latter are in favour of the former.

So.... essentially they want to Britain to hold a special elevated position above the other states? Sounds like nationalism to me.
Collingwood
It was and still is a good idea. However it is killed by defence considerations. Canada has no nearby enemies. Britain has Russia/Europe (depending on time period), and Australia has China/Japan (depending on time period). It would turn into Canada subsidising two military establishments at opposite ends of Eurasia. It might still be workable if the people involved genuinely felt themselves to be countrymen, but it seems that they did and do not. Rather, it was a combination of self-interest and inertia that held the Empire together so long as the UK was a useful benefactor, and as soon as this ceased to be the case Aus/NZ and Canada immediately abandoned Britain and supplanted her with America.

Erm... Canada didn't really have rosy relations with the US by any means (1812 and all) when the idea of a imperial federation was bandied about.
Captain Crash
Erm... Canada didn't really have rosy relations with the US by any means (1812 and all) when the idea of a imperial federation was bandied about.
But when the Empire split up, which is what Collingwood was talking about, Canadian-American relations were strong.

Anyway, in regards to your point about nationalism, I think that just depends on your opinion. If you think that Britain is the same as Slovakia (and this is true in the European balance, with the exception of votes in QMV) you are a mentalist. Britain cannot negotiate her own trade treaties with India, or the United States, or China, all of whom are going to be more relevant and powerful in the world than Europe.

It's true Britain can never be a superpower. But she can be the sort of great power that Britain looked to for assistance a hundred years ago. One of the few powers who weighs the sides of the superpowers. We can be far more relevant, more prosperous, and more influential if we were detached from the European polity than we are now.
Captain Crash
Erm... Canada didn't really have rosy relations with the US by any means (1812 and all) when the idea of a imperial federation was bandied about.

Canada didn't exist in 1812. Imperial Federation is a turn of the 20th century idea. Canadian defence is hardly worth bothering with: it is indefensible against US attack (which is ridiculous anyway), and the US would never allow anyone else to attack it. The most sensible outcome is to become part of the US.
Paxdax
An economy with a nominal value of 5.381 trillion dollars, which would have made it the second largest in the World

Such counterfactuals are meaningless.
Reply 65
Stumbled onto this old post but it's quite interesting. I would have to say that such federation would be incredibly difficult to start. Self-interest and nationalism would certainly kick in, and with the lack of non British descended dominions and colonies (which had some of the most valuable resources i.e spices from India) in the federation (hypothetically becoming independent states) the incentive of being in a political union with Britain, is gone to be frank. Political union on a global scale would have been an incredibly difficult procedure, even in today's standards, and independence movements would spring about all over the federation. If Scotland (a closely tied country both geographically and politically) had an independence referendum, then you can be sure member states would have their own. The point being it wouldn't last long even if it was somehow formed. Would not be a long term solution. A trading bloc however with the former colonies and dominions..... Is also very unlikely, but far more plausible than a federation.
(edited 6 years ago)

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