La pace, le colonie, il mondo. Le relazioni internazionali nella propaganda elettorale inglese degli anni Venti-Trenta

Abstract

The essay reconstructs the presence of imperial and foreign policy issues in the British election campaigns of the Twenties and Thirties, when – from a geostrategic point of view – the British went through a transitional period: from the Greater Britain of the Victorian era to the ultimate post-Second World War decline of British international, economic and military supremacy. Nonetheless, foreign affairs still strongly affected public opinion and all political parties used foreign policy issues in the rhetoric of political struggle and in the practice of legitimation/delegitimation of the governments’ activity. Compared to the Victorian golden age, what partially changed was the representation of the world role of Great Britain and its relations with the colonies. But, the pride in British greatness was far from vanished and continued to supply extraordinary political fuel for the oppositional conflict of electoral campaigns.