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This book is a careful examination of the historical formation of Britain as a conglomerate state and of key moments in its interrelations with the European powers. The author relates this to the governing discourses of politicians, the mass media and of the British people. There emerges the centrality of the rhetoric of sovereignty to political elites and to the population at large, one that conceives of Britain's engagement with Europe as a zero-sum game. A second related theme is the power of geographical images - of Britain as an island, in giving sustenance to this idea of the British nation as by nature separate and autonomous. It follows then that the European Union is seen as 'other' and that involvement in European decision-making tends to be viewed in terms of threat rather than of possibility.Dr Ichijo argues that the concept of sovereignty that underlies this is somewhat naive, since nation-states are not autonomous, economically, militarily or politically, in an increasingly interdependent world. Only by pooling sovereignty can states maximize their national interests in the contemporary world, and the European Union is one instrument by which this can be managed. This, she shows, is understood more among British political elites than the general population.

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