The Role of National Identity Narratives in Foreign-Policy Making: the Case of Brexit

In this thesis the role of national identity narratives in foreign policy making is studied. Taking Brexit as a case study, I employ Symbolic-Interactionist role theory to interpret narratives promoted by the British governing elite at that period and to trace their impact on the domestic contestation of the National Role Conception (NRC). The results of the analysis show that the post-Brexit role of “Global Britain” includes pragmatic and technical narrations of the Antibrexiters, as well as national identity narratives extensively promoted by the “Leave” supporters. Hence, “Global Britain'' might be conceptualized as a discursive compromise between the pragmatic and national narratives articulated during Brexit. Therefore, this thesis shows that national identity narratives can be regarded as crucial factors affecting states’ foreign policy choices and trajectories. This implies that further study of narratives in foreign policy making might significantly enrich the field of such discipline as Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA).