Shadow (psychology)

Literature

Philosophy

Political economy

Sociology

International trade

Psychology

Economics

Political science

Chemistry

Brexit

Virtue

Government (linguistics)

Empire

European union

Linguistics

Colonialism

Psychotherapist

Biochemistry

Economic history

Greatness

History

Argument (complex analysis)

Organization

In this essay, I scrutinize the ‘Global Britain’ project championed by the UK government since the Brexit vote and reflect on the role played by business schools in it. My argument is twofold. First, I contend the project is bound up with British imperialism, being at once the expression of a melancholic attachment to the colonial Empire of yesteryear and part of a long-standing effort to renew Britain’s imperial greatness in the so-called ‘postcolonial’ era. Second, I maintain that business schools, while notionally anti-Brexit, are complicit in the Global Britain project by virtue of propagating elements of its imperialist discourse. I conclude with some reflections on our role as scholars and educators in fostering debate on this project and challenging its imperialist underbelly.

In the shadow of empire: Global Britain and the UK business school