Continuity, Dissonance and Location: an Anglosphere research agenda

This chapter maps out an agenda for those wishing to research the Anglosphere. It does so by examining the elements of political and ideational continuity between the present-day Anglosphere and its antecedents such as Greater Britain and the English-speaking peoples. It also analyses the dissonance within and amongst members of the Anglosphere and thus assesses the potential for the realisation of the diverse political goals that its proponents claim. In searching for the locations where this idea has been realised, it suggests that Brexit increased the salience of the Anglosphere in the United Kingdom and beyond. The chapter notes the changing scope of definitions of the Anglosphere from proponents and analysts alike. It focuses on the five ‘core’ states of the Anglosphere – the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand – but is sensitive to overlapping and intersecting relationships, such as the Commonwealth and the Anglo-American ‘special relationship’. By examining the narratives that the idea of the Anglosphere generates this chapter argues that the hierarchies and tensions intersecting it both sustain and constrain this durable yet thin political ideology.