Backing Britain?: Imagining a nation's global economic future since 1900

近年来，历史学家对各国经济如何刺激、竞争和抵制全球化表现出了极大的兴趣。19世纪的英国被认为是全球经济秩序发展的领军人物，因为它在刺激大西洋经济和建立帝国贸易网络方面发挥了作用。然而，尽管我们对维多利亚时代英国贸易世界的文化经济了解很多，但探索20世纪的类似著作却很少。这项研究的重点是自1900年以来，英国的经济前景及其与海外市场的关系是如何被想象、辩论和争夺的：这是一个动荡的时期，在这个时期，自由贸易和保护主义的支持有所波动，帝国经济逐渐瓦解，欧盟已经形成。根据AHRC关心未来的主题，该项目将在讨论英国未来全球经济身份的历史和当代方式之间建立一座新的桥梁。在现有国际研究合作的基础上，它将评估英国经济方向及其海外市场由一系列不同的参与者想象和概念化的方式的变化，以及这对英国当前未来经济身份的影响。利用一系列档案，注意力将集中在政府组织、企业、民间社会组织、营销者和广告商的视角上。这个项目将特别关注英国和海外商品在爱国采购活动中呈现方式的变化，例如1931年的‘购买英国货’，20世纪40年代的澳大利亚英国采购活动，以及1968年的‘我支持英国’。将一种产品或公司定义为“英国”、“帝国”或“外国”的概念，对于理解国家和帝国的经济身份至关重要。最近的研究工作探索了19世纪如何随着移民、贸易和文化网络的发展而出现了“不列颠世界”的身份，这些网络加强了英国和定居者社区之间的联系。这一领域的许多最具创新性的工作都集中在大英帝国内部定居者社会的视角上。然而，围绕着20世纪“英国世界”经济网络解体而展开的文化争论却不那么为人所知。该项目将包括澳大利亚和新西兰的档案研究，从而提供新的视角，了解帝国/英联邦的外部行为者如何参与关于英国经济未来的关键辩论，促进、质疑和质疑有关经济网络的“英国世界”的想法。项目结果将在与比尔·道格拉斯电影研究中心合作举办的展览中与公众讨论，与不同学科的学者在附带的研究工作坊中讨论，并将在经济政策研究中心和公共政策研究所的政策文件中进行讨论。将为《帝国与英联邦历史杂志》和《现代史杂志》撰写两篇研究文章，这两篇文章将为专著奠定基础。将在埃克塞特和北京举行的英中研究研讨会将刺激国际辩论。英国在当前全球金融危机中的地位受到国际贸易网络历史发展的严重影响，这意味着其经济对外部市场的依赖程度明显高于北美和欧洲的竞争对手。这个项目将为人们提供新的理解，让人们了解英国在过去一个世纪谈判其在全球经济中的角色时，这些网络是如何被理解的。通过对英国经济想象力的历史洞察，它为当今全球化经济中英国身份认同的基础提供了新的视角。

In recent years historians have shown a great deal of interest in how national economies have stimulated, contested and resisted globalisation. Nineteenth-century Britain is recognised as a leading actor in the development of the global economic order through its role in stimulating the Atlantic economy and creating networks of imperial trade. Yet whilst we know much about the cultural economy of the 'British world' of trade in the Victorian era, there are few similar works exploring the twentieth century. This study focuses on how Britain's economic future and relationship with its overseas markets has been imagined, debated and contested since 1900: a tumultuous period in which free trade and protectionism have fluctuated in support, the imperial economy was gradually dismantled, and the European Union has taken shape. In line with the AHRC's Care for the Future theme this project will break new ground in creating a bridge between historical and contemporary ways of discussing Britain's future global economic identity. Building on existing international research collaboration, it will evaluate the changing ways that Britain's economic direction and its overseas markets have been imagined and conceptualised by a range of different actors and the implications that this has for the nation's future economic identity in the current day. Drawing on a range of archives, attention will focus on the perspectives of governmental organisations, businesses, civil society organisations, marketers and advertisers. This project will pay particular attention to the changing ways in which British and overseas goods were presented in patriotic purchasing campaigns such as 'Buy British' in 1931, the Australian British buying campaigns of the 1940s, and 'I'm Backing Britain' in 1968. The notion of defining a product or company as 'British', 'imperial' or 'foreign' was vital to understandings of national and imperial economic identity. Recent work has explored how a 'British world' identity emerged in the nineteenth century, with the development of networks of migration, trade and culture which bolstered links between Britain and settler communities. Much of the most innovative work in this field has focused on the perspectives of settler societies within the British Empire. However, the cultural debates which surrounded the unravelling of this 'British world' of economic networks in the twentieth century are less well understood. This project will include archival research in Australia and New Zealand, thereby offering new perspectives on how external actors in the Empire/ Commonwealth fed into key debates about Britain's economic future, promoting, questioning and contesting ideas about a 'British world' of economic networks. Project findings will be discussed with the public in an exhibition held in collaboration with the Bill Douglas Centre for Film Studies, with academics from a variety of disciplines at an accompanying research workshop, and in policy papers for the Centre for Economic Policy Research and Institute for Public Policy Research. Two research articles will be produced for the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History and the Journal of Modern History, which provide the foundation for a monograph. International debate will be stimulated by UK-Chinese research workshops to be held in Exeter and Beijing. Britain's position during the current global financial crisis is heavily influenced by the historical development of international trade networks, which means that its economy is significantly more reliant on external markets than competitors in North America and Europe. This project will offer fresh understandings of how these networks were understood as Britain negotiated its role in the global economy over the last century. By offering historical insights into the 'economic imagination' of Britain it provides new perspectives on the foundations of the nation's identity in today's globalised economy.