We in the Middle East have been watching Britain with increased fascination. No, not because of the drama involving Meghan and Harry. But because of how the United Kingdom speaks to us across so many issues.
Its renewed independence with Brexit, the unstinting loyalty of Her Majesty the Queen to duty and country, the miraculous vaccine innovation and delivery success, David Attenborough’s warning to the UN on climate change, JK Rowling’s defence of women.
Despite pioneering change in the modern world, Britain has conserved its long tradition of the rule of law. Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Dominic Raab, and Priti Patel – all children or grandchildren of migrants to Britain — now occupy the highest offices of state. How does Britain do it?
The country’s output and influence is always on our screens. It forces us to ask how this tiny island nation addresses such big ideas, from politics to our planet to gender to race? One thing is clear: Britain still matters.
Arab leaders should take note. They have much to learn from Britain
Nowadays, ‘the empire on which the sun never sets’ is seen as an embarrassment by some Brits troubled by their country’s colonial past. They need not worry. Dozens of countries, including sovereign states affiliated with the United Kingdom, colonies, protectorates, and states, fell under the empire’s control. This occupation was not always a good thing, of course. But the Commonwealth today shows that the end of this empire was nonetheless largely amicable, friendly and respectful. This Commonwealth is a club of nations that share a common history. That history has helped shape a common present based on trade, education, law and culture. A confidence binds the English-speaking people that is not about skin colour, but ideals.
Today, we cannot deny that the first global economy was led by Britain. That ‘England of parliaments’ and its legislative system were a model for most of the parliamentary and legal systems in the world. And from Britain, as a long-term consequence of colonialism itself, the Industrial Revolution began. Underpinning this expansion was the rule of law from Magna Carta onwards, but emboldened now by free trade economics. As ever, the British continue to seek commercial alliances. For all the negative rhetoric surrounding Brexit, it’s clear that the United Kingdom is an outward looking, prosperous and exciting nation.
For centuries, this has been the case. No fleet or army, regardless of its gear and numbers, can control India, China, North America, Australia, and many other countries all at the same time. The British Empire was no exception. So how did it do it? The British model was not based on bloody wars, but rather on knowledge, laws and trade. Little wonder that the English statesman and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon declared ‘Knowledge is Power’.
On the intellectual level, many who made great contributions to humanity have emerged from Britain. Newton, Fleming, Alan Turing, and Stephen Hawking in science and mathematics. Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Virginia Woolf made vital contributions to world literature and are taught today in our schools. John Locke, the philosopher and politician; Adam Smith, the father of modern economics; John Constable, Chaplin, the Beatles, and Quinn in music and art. Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Florence Nightingale, who revolutionised healthcare. The list is long and distinguished.
The Royal Society in London is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. It is an academic community that works to promote science and its benefits; it provides scientific advice necessary for policy-making, and strengthening international cooperation. Museums across the planet are modelled on the Ashmolean at Oxford, one of the world’s oldest museums. Theatres take their lead from Shakespeare’s Globe on the Southbank of the Thames.
The British have an instinct for conserving their culture, while modernising and sharing their language and laws with others. That approach still continues. We see it; perhaps Brits are not conscious of it. Britain’s global strength includes its medieval yet modernised universities like Oxford and Cambridge, and their pioneering research. Oxford’s Covid vaccine is just the latest crucial innovation to emerge from these institutions; it will save countless human lives.
Despite the perceived decline of Britain’s global role in the twentieth century, the United Kingdom is still an economic and military power to be reckoned with. A key ally of the United States and a Nato founding country, Britain has an effective European dimension, and also deep international relations inherited from its empire. Nowhere is this more true than in its relationship with the Middle East, Arab Gulf states, and Iraq. ‘Global Britain’ still matters to so many around the world.
Winston Churchill once said: ‘The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that when nations are strong they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are often no longer strong.’
Arab leaders should take note. They have much to learn from Britain, not least in its bold decision to break free from the European Union and look out into the world.
As Britain seeks new trade relations as a free nation, Arab nations should embrace an old friend. And Brits nervous about what the future might look like after Brexit, should look to the country’s past for reassurance.
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