This groundbreaking study offers a genuinely multidisciplinary exploration of cultural influences on foreign policy. Through an innovative blend of historical analysis, neoclassical realist theory, and cultural studies, Amelia Hadfield-Amkhan shows how national identity has been a catalyst for British foreign policy decisions, helping the state to both define and defend itself. Representing key points of crisis from the past two centuries, her case studies include the 1882 attempt to construct a channel tunnel to France, the frantic 1909 Dreadnought race with Germany, the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina, and the 2003 decision to remain outside the Eurozone. The author argues that these events, marking the decline of a great power, have forced Britain's society and government into periods of deep self-reflection that are carved into its culture and etched into its policy stances on central issues of sovereignty, territorial integrity, international recognition, and even monetary policy.

Amelia Hadfield-Amkhan is professor of European affairs in the Faculty of Economic. Social and Political Sciences and the Solvay Business School at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and senior research fellow at VUB's Institute for European Studies.