The British Imperial Establishment, Post Imperial Era, and the ‘Churchillian’ World View, 1945-2016. (Adjustments & Challenges in Contemporary British Diplomatic Strategy)

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CHAPTER V

The
Political Elite’s Strategies for Protecting British Power and
Interests in the Process of
Decolonization (1945-63).

In this chapter and
the next I shall be concentrating on the policy ideas and
political attitudes of the British political
elite during the decolonisation process,
which led to the setting up of an institution incorporating the
new nations and
states, or the Modern Commonwealth, (ex- colonies) in Africa and Asia post-
1945, as
defined in Chapter Three. The run-down of empire also produced other
responses by the political elite, to
safeguarding British interests, which will be
elucidated. However, we start our investigation by looking
at the machinery
through which the political elite responded to the situation and
circumstances
bringing about decolonisation. This brief outline will enable us to see that
the
policies were not made in a short period nor were they made by a single individual
without any
checks and balances. In fact they went through a complex process
before they came to mature.

The Organization of the United Kingdom Central Government: The Policy
Making
Machinery.

Before proceeding with the definition of the British political elite in
Chapter One, I discussed
elite theory and I pointed out that if a government relies
only on military power, that government will
be at a considerable disadvantage.
It is, therefore, important for all those who hold power to have their
position
recognised as legitimate (rightful) by those over whom they have power. In
modern society
legitimacy will be achieved through a competitive party system
based on elections (one person-one vote).
In a country with a monarchy,
democracy can only be achieved if the system is a constitutional monarchy
such
as the United Kingdom. In 1963 two American political scientists (Professors

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