Imperial nostalgia connects quite significantly with partisan politics.
Our study suggests that imperial nostalgia is like a submerged current in British politics. It shapes where parties can safely sail even if they rarely talk about the tide. But we think it’s possible that the current could resurface.
Imperial nostalgia correlates strongly with support beyond the main parties: positively with Reform and negatively with the Greens. With Britain’s party system in unprecedented flux, a challenger could weaponise the issue to split opponents and mobilise a base.
And since younger Britons hold more notably critical views of empire, their entry into the electorate could make debates about the past more electorally decisive and therefore worth campaigning on. Our experiment suggests a sharp backlash from conservatives will ensue, setting the stage for a fresh culture-war divide.
Even without these two factors, it remains the case that backward-looking narratives resonate more strongly in periods of perceived national decline. So if the current stagnation persists, imperial nostalgia could surface from background mood to foreground politics.