A nation can be defined by its people, as a community and society of shared values and common cultures, and by its political standing as a sovereign state with its own borders, government and international recognition.
Who is to say what those shared values are? Cultures evolve over generations, if we are not to be trapped in the past, and through great economic, social and environmental developments. How do we contain a culture or determine what are British values, when buffeted by global events and borderless social media? We are left to ponder what is sovereignty, when it succumbs to global markets and so-called strong man politics that respect no boundaries.
Pooled sovereignty can strengthen a nation’s resources for shared interests and international cooperation. This is writ large in the climate change emergency and the threat to democracy from wars and wannabe dictators to avaricious tech bros. Yet this requires confidence in who we are, as a nation, and to agree what we share and hold dear in the common interest. This rises above the electoral cycle of individual governments and runs across generations. It informed by the politics of the day – as seen by Brexit – but can leap the intergenerational divide.
What shapes a close-knit society is a sense of belonging and connected communities. Communities make up a nation. Investing in our communities creates that sense of belonging and builds our national identity. This builds on our history, as a nation, but not a nostalgia that views the past through rose-tinted glasses or seems to turn the clock back to a bygone age.
Rather it must be relevant to and seen to be part of the experiences and values of the younger generation. A truly intergenerational understanding, whatever our differences. When young people have a sense of belonging, communities are stronger. Connected communities create a cohesive society, and national identity that circumvents populist entreaties and any form of nationalism which rides rough-shod over our international outlook and obligations.
This speaks to countries and continents, dominated by super powers of East and West with a revisionist and reductive view of history and national identity. It also speaks to us closer to home, with the nations that make up the UK, and an increasing trend for devolution to the English regions.
What unites us, more than our island borders that contain us? A raft of consultations, policies or laws and top-down decrees won’t give us the answer. Start with community, rebuild trust, restore hope for the future and confidence in who we are as a nation will follow. If we don’t start with young people, we will be locked in to a cycle of constantly looking over our shoulder to the populist sirens extolling the past and promulgating dreams for the future that sows division and discord today.
From our start and over the last 20 years Citadel has worked with and supported the National Youth Agency in England to protect and grow the youth and community workforce, putting youth voice and experiences at the heart of that work. Also creating the National Youth Sector Advisory Board, representing youth organisations with funders, regulators, commissioners and government behind a coherent strategy and advocacy for youth work with young people. NYA has more recently held the reins of UK Youth Parliament and led a consultation for the creation of a new National Youth Council for England, while connecting the equivalent bodies in the UK nations, Commonwealth and Europe.
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