Social Constructivism in Explaining British Policy Towards The European Union

Abstract:

           The study focused on the determinant role played by social and cultural structures and the main features of the national character in directing the state’s external behavior, especially in determining the state’s relationship with the surrounding regional integration schemes and processes.

            Accordingly, this thesis dealt with the case of Britain and the role of British social and cultural structures in determining its policy towards the European Union since British accession to the European  Economic Community until the start of carrying out Britain’s decision to leave  the European Union , by employing significant theoretical frameworks in international relations theory and international integration literature, notably the approach of social and cultural constructivism and intergorernmentalism approach, where the study demonstrated that British social and  cultural characteristics that distinguish is from the rest of the European main land and which were produced by the geographical environment and the historical record, vital and specific in shaping the course of Britain’s policy towards the European integration  project, and made of Britain a model in this field of research.

  In this context, this academic examination contributed to providing a scientific explanation of the relationship between Britain and Europe within the framework of theoretical and practical research that reshift the research attention from the materialistic aspects related to promoting benefit and security to other non-material facets, to be exact, the impact of social and cultural components and characteristics in determining the behavior of states with external actors and drawing the landmarks and major orientations of regional and international integration projects.

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