Britain and the Continent ― From Isolation to Integration.docVIP

Britain and the Continent ― From Isolation to Integration 　　[a] Department of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China. 　　*Corresponding author. 　　Received 21 May 2012; accepted 15 July 2012 　　Abstract 　　Britain, with its insularity in location and once being the world’s greatest empire, carried the isolation policy for most of history, separating itself from the continental Europe in foreign affairs. For a long time, it has secured prosperity and prestige with special relationship with America and the good terms with members of the Commonwealth. However, wars, constant emergence of new economic rivals, member countries’ withdrawals from the Commonwealth, the unreliable ally, and the weakening national power have all obliged Britain to find a new partner to lean upon. Britain began to strengthen its ties with the continental Europe by joining the European Economic Community (EEC). But the path to EEC was not smooth although Britain finally accomplished its goal. 　　Key words: Europe; Isolation policy; Special relationship; The Commonwealth 　　ZHAN Lili (2012). Britain and the Continent ― From Isolation to Integration. Cross-Cultural Communication, 8(4), -0. Available from /index.php/ccc/article/view/j.ccc.1923670020120804.2039 　　DOI: /10.3968/j.ccc.1923670020120804.2039. 　　INTRODUCTION 　　The Continent is used to refer to the mainland of Europe in the United Kingdom; however, “it is widespread practice in the media in the UK (and elsewhere) to use the word?Europe?to mean continental Europe; that is, ‘Europe’ excludes Britain, Iceland and Ireland.” (Wikipedia, 2012) In order to highlight the difference between Britain and Europe, the term Continent is used throughout this paper. 　　British former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, wrote in his book: “Since we are real Europeans (in old times, our ancestors sailed from the Continent to settle in Britain), we should not distance ourselves from the Continent. Instead, we should take vigorous part in E