Grouping of English-speaking nations
This article is about group of English-speaking nations with close political and military ties and their sphere of influence. For usage of English worldwide, see
English-speaking world
.
The
Anglosphere
is the Anglo-American
sphere of influence
, with a core group of nations that today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where
English
is an official language, so it is not synonymous with the sphere of
anglophones
, though commonly included nations are those that were formerly part of the British Empire and retained the English language and English
Common Law
.
The five core countries of the Anglosphere are usually taken to be
Australia
,
Canada
,
New Zealand
, the
United Kingdom
, and the
United States
. These countries enjoy close cultural and diplomatic links with one another and are aligned under military and security programmes (
Five Eyes
).
Definitions and variable geometry
[
edit
]
The Anglosphere is the Anglo-American sphere of influence.
[a]
The term was first coined by the science fiction writer
Neal Stephenson
in his book
The Diamond Age
, published in 1995.
John Lloyd
adopted the term in 2000 and defined it as including English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland,
South Africa
, and the
British West Indies
.
James C. Bennett
defines
anglosphere
as "the English-speaking Common Law-based nations of the world",
arguing that former British colonies that retained English common law and the English language have done significantly better than counterparts colonised by other European powers.
The
Merriam-Webster
dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate".
[6]
[b]
However the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with
anglophone
.
[7]
Core Anglosphere
[
edit
]
The definition is usually taken to include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States
[8]
in a grouping of
developed countries
called the
core Anglosphere
. This term can also less frequently encompass
Ireland
,
Malta
and the
Commonwealth Caribbean
countries.
[9]
The five core countries in the Anglosphere are
developed countries
that maintain close cultural and diplomatic links with one another. They are aligned under such military and security programmes as:
[11]
[12]
Relations have traditionally been warm between Anglosphere countries, with bilateral partnerships such as those between
Australia and New Zealand
,
the United States and Canada
and
the United States and the United Kingdom
(the
Special Relationship
) constituting the most successful partnerships in the world.
[13]
[14]
[15]
In terms of political systems, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have
Charles III
as
head of state
, form part of the
Commonwealth of Nations
and use the
Westminster parliamentary system
of government. Most of the core countries have
first-past-the-post
electoral systems, though
Australia
and
New Zealand
have reformed their systems and there are other systems used in some
elections in the UK
. As a consequence, most core Anglosphere countries have politics
dominated by two major parties
.
Below is a table comparing the five core countries of the Anglosphere (data for 2022/2023):
Country
|
Population
|
Land area
(km
2
)
[16]
|
GDP Nominal
(USD bn)
[17]
|
GDP PPP
(USD bn)
[17]
|
GDP PPP per capita
(USD)
[18]
|
National wealth PPP (USD bn)
[19]
[18]
[20]
|
Military spending PPP
(USD bn)
[21]
|
Australia
|
26,009,249
[22]
|
7,692,020
|
1,707
|
1,718
|
65,366
|
7,661
|
22.0
|
Canada
|
38,708,793
[23]
|
9,984,670
|
2,089
|
2,385
|
60,177
|
9,971
|
23.3
|
New Zealand
|
5,130,623
[24]
|
262,443
|
251
|
278
|
54,046
|
1,229
|
3.1
|
United Kingdom
|
67,081,234
[25]
|
241,930
|
3,158
|
3,846
|
56,471
|
16,208
|
70.2
|
United States
|
332,718,707
[26]
|
9,833,520
|
26,854
|
26,854
|
80,035
|
114,932
|
734.3
|
Core Anglosphere
|
469,648,606
|
27,329,350
|
34,059
|
28,115
|
65,700
|
150,001
|
852.9
|
... as % of World
|
5.9%
|
18.4%
|
32.3%
|
20%
|
3.3×
|
24.9%
|
32.9%
|
Culture and economics
[
edit
]
Due to their historic links, the Anglosphere countries share many cultural traits that still persist today. Most countries in the Anglosphere follow the
rule of law
through
common law
rather than
civil law
, and favour
democracy
with
legislative chambers
above other political systems.
[27]
Private property is protected by law or constitution.
[28]
[
better source needed
]
Market freedom
is high in the five core Anglosphere countries, as all five share the
Anglo-Saxon economic model
– a
capitalist
model that emerged in the 1970s based on the
Chicago school of economics
with origins from the 18th century United Kingdom.
[29]
The shared sense of
globalisation
led cities such as
New York
,
London
,
Los Angeles
,
Sydney
, and
Toronto
to have considerable impacts on the
financial markets
and the
global economy
.
[30]
Global
popular culture
has been highly influenced by the
United States
and the
United Kingdom
.
[28]
[
better source needed
]
Proponents and critics
[
edit
]
Proponents of the Anglosphere concept typically come from the
political right
(such as
Andrew Roberts
of the
UK Conservative Party
), and critics from the
centre-left
(for example
Michael Ignatieff
of the
Liberal Party of Canada
).
Proponents
[
edit
]
As early as 1897,
Albert Venn Dicey
proposed an Anglo-Saxon "intercitizenship" during an address to the Fellows of
All Souls
at Oxford.
[31]
The American businessman
James C. Bennett
,
[32]
a proponent of the idea that there is something special about the cultural and legal (
common law
) traditions of English-speaking nations, writes in his 2004 book
The Anglosphere Challenge
:
The Anglosphere, as a network civilization without a corresponding political form, has necessarily imprecise boundaries. Geographically, the densest nodes of the Anglosphere are found in the United States and the United Kingdom. English-speaking Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and English-speaking South Africa (who constitute a very small minority in that country) are also significant populations. The English-speaking Caribbean, English-speaking
Oceania
and the English-speaking educated populations in Africa and India constitute other important nodes.
Bennett argues that there are two challenges confronting his concept of the Anglosphere. The first is finding ways to cope with rapid technological advancement and the second is the geopolitical challenges created by what he assumes will be an increasing gap between anglophone prosperity and economic struggles elsewhere.
[33]
British historian
Andrew Roberts
claims that the Anglosphere has been central in the
First World War
,
Second World War
and
Cold War
. He goes on to contend that anglophone unity is necessary for the defeat of
Islamism
.
[34]
According to a 2003 profile in
The Guardian
, historian
Robert Conquest
favoured a
British withdrawal
from the
European Union
in favour of creating "a much looser association of English-speaking nations, known as the 'Anglosphere
'
".
[36]
CANZUK
[
edit
]
Favourability ratings tend to be overwhelmingly positive between countries within a subset of the core Anglosphere known as
CANZUK
(consisting of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom),
[
according to whom?
]
whose members form part of the
Commonwealth of Nations
and retain Charles III as head of state. In the wake of the
United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union
(Brexit) as a result of a
referendum held in 2016
, there has been mounting political and popular support for a loose free travel and common market area to be formed among the CANZUK countries.
[37]
[38]
[39]
Criticisms
[
edit
]
In 2000,
Michael Ignatieff
wrote in an exchange with
Robert Conquest
, published by the
New York Review of Books
, that the term neglects the evolution of fundamental legal and cultural differences between the US and the UK, and the ways in which UK and European norms drew closer together during Britain's membership in the EU through
regulatory harmonisation
. Of Conquest's view of the Anglosphere, Ignatieff writes: "He seems to believe that Britain should either
withdraw from Europe
or refuse all further measures of cooperation, which would jeopardize Europe's real achievements. He wants Britain to throw in its lot with a union of English-speaking peoples, and I believe this to be a romantic illusion".
In 2016,
Nick Cohen
wrote in an article titled "It's a Eurosceptic fantasy that the 'Anglosphere' wants Brexit" for
The Spectator
'
s Coffee House blog:
"
'Anglosphere' is just the right's
PC
replacement for what we used to call in blunter times 'the
white Commonwealth
'."
[41]
[42]
He repeated this criticism in another article for
The Guardian
in 2018.
[43]
Similar criticism was presented by other critics such as Canadian academic Srđan Vu?eti?.
[44]
[45]
In 2018, amidst the aftermath of the
Brexit referendum
, two British professors of public policy
Michael Kenny
and Nick Pearce published a critical scholarly monograph titled
Shadows of Empire: The Anglosphere in British Politics
(
ISBN
978-1509516612
). In one of a series of accompanying opinion pieces, they questioned:
[46]
The tragedy of the different national orientations that have emerged in British politics after empire?whether pro-European, Anglo-American, Anglospheric or some combination of these?is that none of them has yet been the compelling, coherent and popular answer to the country's most important question: How should Britain find its way in the wider, modern world?
They stated in another article:
[47]
Meanwhile, the other core English-speaking countries to which the Anglosphere refers, show no serious inclination to join the UK in forging new political and economic alliances. They will, most likely, continue to work within existing regional and international institutions and remain indifferent to ? or simply perplexed by ? calls for some kind of formalised Anglosphere alliance.
Opinion polls
[
edit
]
A 2020 poll by
YouGov
revealed that Australia was the most positively viewed country by Americans outside of the United States, followed by Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy and New Zealand.
[48]
Another 2020 poll by YouGov showed that New Zealand, Canada and Australia were the most positively viewed countries by British people, and more favourably viewed by British people than the United Kingdom itself, with the United States ranking 34th.
[49]
A 2023 poll by the
Lowy Institute
similarly indicated that New Zealand was the country most positively viewed by Australians, with Canada ranking second, the UK third and the United States twelfth.
[50]
A 2020 poll by the
Macdonald?Laurier Institute
suggested that Australia was the most positively viewed country by Canadians.
[51]
In a 2019
Pew Research Center
poll, a plurality of Canadians and Australians named the United States as their country's closest ally.
[52]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Anglosphere ? shorthand for the Anglo-American sphere of influence ? established the concept and structure of the modern transnational community.... The Anglosphere (in the narrow sense of the former British Empire, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the US) has been the architect and a staunch proponent of international norms."
- ^
"The group of countries where
English
is the main native language." (
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
(6th ed.), Oxford University Press, 2007,
ISBN
978-0-19-920687-2
).
References
[
edit
]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Browning, Christopher S. and Tonra, Ben (2010) "Beyond the West and towards the Anglosphere?" In: Browning, Christopher S. and Lehti, Marko, (eds.)
The struggle for the West: a divided and contested legacy
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ISBN
9780415476836
:
https://www.academia.edu/341929/Beyond_the_West_and_Towards_the_Anglosphere
Archived
3 January 2023 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
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.
Archived
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- ^
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.
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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.
- ^
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.
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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2021
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2019
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.
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.
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.
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.
archive.stats.govt.nz
.
Archived
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2020
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.
www.ons.gov.uk
.
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2021
.
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.
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.
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2020
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.
www.cia.gov
. Archived from
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on 10 May 2013
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29 October
2019
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a
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(PDF)
. Washington D.C.
ISBN
978-0-16-082095-3
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 4 July 2020
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Kidd, John B.; Richter, Frank-Jurgen (2006).
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. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
ISBN
978-0230523555
.
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.
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- ^
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3 (1897):107. Cited in Dimitry Kochenov (2019)
Citizenship
ISBN
9780262537797
, page 139.
- ^
Reynolds, Glenn (28 October 2004).
"Explaining the 'Anglosphere'
"
.
The Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on 4 April 2019
. Retrieved
31 July
2018
.
- ^
Bennett, 2004b
[
page needed
]
- ^
Roberts 2006
[
page needed
]
- ^
"The power of the Anglosphere in Eurosceptical thought"
. 10 December 2015.
Archived
from the original on 1 August 2018
. Retrieved
2 August
2018
.
- ^
"CANZUK, Conservatives and Canada: Marching backward to empire ? iPolitics"
. 24 February 2017.
Archived
from the original on 26 February 2017
. Retrieved
26 December
2017
.
- ^
"UK public strongly backs freedom to live and work in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 6 January 2017
. Retrieved
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2017
.
- ^
"Survey Reveals Support For CANZUK Free Movement"
.
CANZUK International
.
Archived
from the original on 22 December 2017
. Retrieved
26 December
2017
.
- ^
Cohen, Nick (12 April 2016).
"It's a Eurosceptic fantasy that the 'Anglosphere' wants Brexit - Coffee House"
.
Archived
from the original on 28 February 2019
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"The Guardian view on the EU debate: it's about much more than migration | Editorial"
.
The Guardian
. 1 June 2016.
Archived
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. Retrieved
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2020
– via www.theguardian.com.
- ^
Cohen, Nick (14 July 2018).
"Brexit Britain is out of options. Our humiliation is painful to watch - Nick Cohen"
.
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"CANZUK, Conservatives and Canada: Marching backward to empire - iPolitics"
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"Opinion ? Britain, Time to Let Go of the 'Anglosphere'
"
.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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(PDF)
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.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bell, Duncan (19 January 2017).
"The Anglosphere: new enthusiasm for an old dream"
. Prospect.
- Bellocchio, Luca (2006).
Anglosfera. Forma e forza del nuovo Pan-Anglismo
. Genova, Il Melangolo.
ISBN
978-88-7018-601-7
.
- Bennett, James C. (2004).
"Dreaming Europe in a Wide-Awake World"
.
The National Interest
(78): 119?129.
ISSN
0884-9382
.
JSTOR
42897514
.
- Bennett, James C. (2004).
The Anglosphere Challenge: Why the English-Speaking Nations Will Lead the Way in the Twenty-First Century
. Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN
978-0742533325
.
- Bennett, James C. (2007).
The Third Anglosphere Century: The English-Speaking World in an Era of Transition
. The Heritage Foundation.
ASIN
0891952772
.
- Brown, Andrew (15 February 2003).
"Scourge and poet"
.
The Guardian
.
- Conquest, Robert; Reply by Ignatieff, Michael (23 March 2000).
"The 'Anglosphere'
"
.
The New York Review of Books
. Retrieved
24 July
2007
.
- Davies, Andrew; Dobell, Graeme; Jennings, Peter; Norgrove, Sarah; Smith, Andrew; Stuart, Nic; White, Hugh (2013).
"Keep calm and carry on: Reflections on the Anglosphere"
. Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
- Hannan, Daniel (2 March 2014).
"The Anglosphere is alive and well, but I wonder whether it needs a better name"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 7 April 2016
. Retrieved
12 April
2016
.
- Kenny, Michael; Pearce, Nick (2015).
"The rise of the Anglosphere: how the right dreamed up a new conservative world order"
.
New Statesman
. Retrieved
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2018
.
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Shadows of Empire: The Anglosphere in British Politics
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.
- Legrand, Tim (1 December 2015). "Transgovernmental Policy Networks in the Anglosphere".
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.
- Legrand, Tim (22 June 2016). "Elite, exclusive and elusive: transgovernmental policy networks and iterative policy transfer in the Anglosphere".
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.
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.
- Lloyd, John (2000).
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.
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.
- Parulekar, Shashi; Kotkin, Joel (2012).
"The State of the Anglosphere"
.
City Journal
.
- Pomerantsev, Peter (13 July 2016).
"The idealistic pull of the 'Anglosphere'
"
.
Politico Europe
.
- Roberts, Andrew
(2006).
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. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
ISBN
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.
- Vucetic, Srdjan (2011).
The Anglosphere: A Genealogy of a Racialized Identity in International Relations
. Stanford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8047-7224-2
.
- Wellings, Ben (2017).
"The Anglosphere in the Brexit Referendum"
.
Revue francaise de civilisation britannique
.
XXII
(2).
doi
:
10.4000/rfcb.1354
.
External links
[
edit
]
Look up
Anglosphere
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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Antarctica and the South Atlantic
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- 23. Since 2009 part of
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
; Ascension Island (1922?) and Tristan da Cunha (1938?) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena.
- 24. Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under the
Antarctic Treaty
.
- 25. Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1985
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