Bd. Expozitiei 30 A
Bucuresti 012244
The United Kingdom is currently a leading democracy with an old tradition of civic freedoms and rule of law. The British society is known to be diverse, multicultural and multiethnic. However, the UK also preserves imperial symbols and some old mores that are problematic especially with regard to past colonial injustices and crimes. The backbone of the British colonial domination was the aristocracy, a social class that was never thoroughly reformed and keeps enjoying wealth, prestige and privileges. This paper will illustrate this kind of domination through the case of the British colonial rule in Kenya. It will ask whether aristocratic paternalism and classism are still present in British society. Furthermore, it will try to see to what extent that may help explain political phenomena such as the support for Brexit on conservative ideological grounds, the difficulty of listening to former EU partners or the reluctance to apologize and seek reconciliation for the past colonial violence.
Key-words: historical amnesia, empire, paternalism, violence, aristocracy, classism