The United Republic of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island

or U.R.E.S.W.N.I for short

was watching a vid on youtube, explaining how the expensives of the british monarchy work (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhyYgnhhKFw&feature=feedf) and at the end he put this, in response to republicans out there, as the name if the monarchy was abolished...
and i thought tis would be actually quite a interesting name to discuss and how it would work in real life (for maps, flags, politics ,etc)

i know that alot of people have done british republics in the past but never seen one named like this before...
but yea thought it was interesting enough to share, even if nothing comes of this thread
 
Misguided premise....

First off, any argument in support of abolition for the monarchy which is based on cost is ridiculous before it even starts, it is an argument simply trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator mainly because they know that is what gets attention – just look at the expenses scandal, never mind that most of these MP’s voted in favour of an illegal war or in favour of tuition fees, kick them out of office because they claimed on their expenses for a kit kat! :mad:
That’s politics in 21st century Britain for you. :):)
The only genuine and intelligent argument for the abolition of the monarchy is a fundamental opposition to the principle of hereditary privilege; every other reason is just superficial.
I think fundamentally why there is never going to be a successful United Republic of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is that there is not a sufficiently strong ground base to unite them; the ties between the countries are not especially strong, it’s worth noting that Britain was united as a result of invasion and succession, nobody sought out a mutually beneficial union, in fact most of the historic bloodshed in the UK has not been as a result of invasion but of the various countries trying to avoid English domination and rule.
The British monarchy is one of the few obvious institutions which bind them together and are at the heart of the Union, along with the Union Jack, you might say it is the embodiment of Britain, you need to unpick that and replace it with something equally powerful which unites these four nations together with a common goal or focus. I am not sure what that could be.
If you think back to Cromwell’s time, Scotland quickly grew tired and began rumbling and negotiating with Charles Stuart, to avoid splinter groups forming, you would need to establish a really unitary system, perhaps with a total overhaul of the political and legal system, a Bill of Rights, a unified legal system, unification of the Protestant churches etc.
In essence you need to replace the monarchy and the associated political system which has allowed a pretty wishy washy union with not too much substantive ties to be replaced with a much more authoritarian Unitarian regime which enforces a stronger political and economic unification between the four countries.
You haven't been specific as to when you were hoping to create this United Republic, presumably you are talking post 1945, anytime before that would of course impact enormously on world history, as it effectively requires a change in mindset dating back to 1066 whereby the aspiration was to colonise where the invading Normans into England sought to subjugate the Irish, Welsh and Scots and this continued one way or another for almost the next Millennium, you really need to remove this aspect to the Norman and then English psyche but then obviously it will impact enormously on English policy and the development of England as a world imperial power and you then have issues of the what the world would look like without the British Empire.
Assuming you have a United republic after 1945, you probably need some kind of socialist revolution or for the Nazis to succeed in invading the UK and electing that the best way to control it would be to abandon all things Britain/British.
 
I don't see why, if you insist on having an ASB or vaguely plausible British republic in alt-hist, it has to be anything but "The United Republic of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" :/
 
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The Commonwealth (down with unnecessary Latinisation, up with historical tradition!) of Great Britain and northern Ireland.

Why this aversion to "Great Britain"? We don't call it the Federal Republic of Bavaria, Saxony, Brandenburg, etcetera.

I think fundamentally why there is never going to be a successful United Republic of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is that there is not a sufficiently strong ground base to unite them; the ties between the countries are not especially strong, it’s worth noting that Britain was united as a result of invasion and succession, nobody sought out a mutually beneficial union, in fact most of the historic bloodshed in the UK has not been as a result of invasion but of the various countries trying to avoid English domination and rule.

What standard is "not very strong" measured by? Certainly Great Britain (Ulster somewhat less) is more homogenous than many countries and people very frequently cross its borders. Whole tracts of Wales are in the economic orbit of Liverpool and Manchester.

Also, England and Scotland were united by the votes of the landowning-merchant oligarchy in each country, which is less "invasion and conquest" than many things in history. The common people never got a say, but when have they had much say in that stuff?

And how exactly is "historic bloodshed" being measured?

The British monarchy is one of the few obvious institutions which bind them together and are at the heart of the Union, along with the Union Jack, you might say it is the embodiment of Britain, you need to unpick that and replace it with something equally powerful which unites these four nations together with a common goal or focus. I am not sure what that could be.

Bah. I'm in favour of keeping the monarchy, but I don't like the official Britishness created out of military and monarchical prestige and something called Protestantism, which involved German kings and oatmeal. I want a Britishness based on The Plain People, and disentangled from Englishness by the invention of Englishness in the same way that Scottishness has been invented. But that is all wishful thinking, I suppose.

the invading Normans into England sought to subjugate the Irish, Welsh and Scots

In fairness to the Normans, we invited them. That's more than you can say about England.
 
He mention in that video the in case a republic was established the royal family would take their profits from their lands, but couldn't a republic simply nationalize all the lands owned by the Royal family which are not directly used.
 
He mention in that video the in case a republic was established the royal family would take their profits from their lands, but couldn't a republic simply nationalize all the lands owned by the Royal family which are not directly used.

Only those bits that aren't personally owned by the Royal Family. And only by act of Parliament, I suspect...
 
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