The Nation State

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Nation State. When we speak of our island story which island do we mean? When did England elide with Britain and why does it sit uneasily alongside the United Kingdom? At the end of the 20th century, the identity of one of the most forceful countries of the millennium is subject to scrutiny, doubt and criticism. What is England now? When did it act as England and not Britain, or the UK, or the British Isles? And how does its new role fit in with the idea of the Nation State which has dominated the internal and, more dramatically, the external behaviour of many powerful countries over the last few centuries? Yet despite its mighty past the Nation State itself can now seem powerless against the forces of globalisation.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Norman Davies 3 episodes
  Emeritus Professor, London University
• Andrew Marr No other episodes
  former editor of The Independent

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Programme ID: p005462v

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005462v

Auto-category: 320 (Political science)