Kernodle- The Remnants of The Crown
William M. Kernodle
Professor Shirk
Pols 170
03 February 2022
The Remnants of The Crown
Once upon a time, most of the world was ruled by kings and Queens of expansive empires. For example the English empire used to dominate nearly a quarter of the world, exerting its influence forcefully through colonization. Nowadays the Commonwealth of Nations includes only 54 nations, most of which are islands that used to be colonies. Moreover, most of these nations have set up their own governments and are growing further and further apart from The Crown. The evolution of international politics is hardly more visible anywhere else than through the change in attitude towards imperial colonialism and the british empire. The Crown used to embody hard influence to a T; invading and conquering with only their own economic prosperity in mind. Today we observe a completely different reality in which it’s no longer an empire, it’s a commonwealth and The Queen is no longer Emperor, she’s just the head. All this said, the roots of colonialism were planted extremely deep and much of the commonwealth, and the world for that matter, still receives soft influence from England. In Jamaica, for example, The Queen is still head of state and there are strong sentiments to remove her as such; however, even the strongest of nationalists will still admit to watching royal weddings and reading english political thought. Well off Jamaicans educate their children in England, the government relies on England for disaster relief, and they still hold The Queen and her government in high regard. Although the slave trade has ended, The Queen no longer rules absolutely, and most past colonies have separated from Britan, they still count on and look to the english for everything from fashion to government. Thus it is evident the remnants of The Crown are still deep seeded through soft influence.
Nice work on this blog. While I understand your connection to The Crown's use of soft power, I almost wonder if this argument should've been mentioned sooner in your post. The background information is helpful in setting the stage for the crux of your argument, but it takes up a disproportionate amount of space in your blog. Furthermore, I know that you mention the slave trade in your post, but was that the only way that The Crown ruled absolutely? It may be beneficial to add additional examples to support this claim. Either way, however, this was an interesting read and a valid perspective on the use of soft power.
ReplyDeleteThis was super fascinating I am not to knowledgeable on the Crown so this post was super informative to me. The one question I do have is about how Jamaica actually cut off its crown ties. I know various other commonwealth nations have signed agreements so I am wondering how Jamaica official cut ties. This was great though I really enjoyed it.
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