Tensions and Connections in UK–UK Overseas Territories relations
The authors use this Research Article to look at the reality of Britain’s relationship with its overseas territories following a recent parliamentary inquiry; they conclude that familial language may be hiding other familial dynamics – disagreement and dysfunction.
The UK Overseas Territories are at the intersection of geopolitical tensions. Evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry provided a window into the state of the relationship between the UK and its territories. It revealed a significant shift to a shared framing of ‘family’ that also has tensions over rights, responsibilities and equity. Nichola Harmer and Matthew Benwell trace the deployment of these familial metaphors during the inquiry and highlight how these tensions are partly inherent in the relationship’s structural conditions and exacerbated by geopolitical challenges.
WRITTEN BY
Nichola Harmer
Matthew C Benwell
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