Great Britain An Empire In Transition

Selected bibliography: p. 339-343.

This new edition extends and brings up to date the story of political, economic, and social change among the British. An entirely new chapter covers the Thatcher years, discussing such events as the Falkland Island crisis and the General Election of 1983. Other sections have been revised to reflect information only recently available. Throughout, Havighurst has incorporated material from official documents, monographs, biographies, articles, and the press. His fascinating narrative fully captures the ongoing importance of change itself in shaping the character of Britain.

History records only one peaceful transition of hegemonic power: the passage from British to American dominance of the international order. To explain why this transition was nonviolent, Kori Schake explores nine points of crisis between Britain and the U.S., from the Monroe Doctrine to the unequal “special relationship” during World War II.

This book studies the relations between Britain and Canada from the end of the First World War to the Imperial Conference of 1926. It is concerned principally with the problems of imperial co-operation and consultation in foreign affairs and defence policy, and with the pressures developing out of these problems to reformulate the constitutional relations of Britain and her dominions. In the course of examining Canadian attempts to redefine empire-commonwealth relationships this book also throws fresh light on the evolution of British attitudes to the dominions during these years. Often there were serious policy disagreements in Whitehall - the Colonial Office preferring to conciliate, the Foreign Office to challenge the overseas governments - and Dr Wigley, with close attention to official and private papers, shows clearly that developments in this period owed far more to Britain's own responses and priorities than has been previously realised.

Decolonization is the term commonly used to refer to this transition from a world of colonial empires to a world of nation-states in the years after World War II. This work demonstrates that this process involved considerable violence and instability.

DIVHistory of the relationship between government regulation of the film industry in the UK and the the developing film industry in India between the 1920s and 1940s./div

The end of empire in Britain itself is illuminated through explorations of its impact on key domestic institutions.