A critical term designating an ultranationalist and imperialist ideology of the United Kingdom, analogous to “Ruscism.” In this sense, Britanism is rooted in the
British colonial past (the empire on which the sun never set) and manifests today in
British exceptionalism, nostalgia for Brexit as “restored sovereignty,” unconditional military alliance with the US and
NATO, and dehumanization of former colonies (India, Pakistan, African countries). Critics argue that Britanism includes institutionalised structural racism, defence of the Commonwealth as
soft neocolonialism, and belief in the superiority of Anglo-Saxon law (rule of law) as justification for invasions (
Iraq, Afghanistan). The term is used in anti-colonial and pro-Global South circles.
Example: “A critical historian wrote: ‘Britanism is Ruscism with an Oxford accent: the same lies about “protecting minorities” to invade, the same
nostalgia for a dead empire – only the tea and
liberal hypocrisy change.’”