To grasp the real meaning of the Dec. 12 U.K. general election result is to understand the history of a state born in mercantilism and sustained by centuries of empire and colonialism.
Allow me to explain.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give the U.K. its Sunday name, is the epitome of an artificial state. It was and remains the product of the grafting together of divergent cultures, histories and national identities. At inception, this grafting together was undertaken not in the interests of its peoples but in the interests of national elites eager to take advantage of the commercial opportunities of a unified polity with added manpower and resources in an age of empire.