Britain's European Policy Discourse: A Metaphoric Analysis

The relations of Britain and European Union have always been one of the important and controversial issues in domestic political scene of Britain for the past fifty years due to negative attitude of Britain towards European integration and unity. The question which the present article wants to examine is how this skeptical and stressful attitude of Britain towards European unity has shaped and what circumstances have helped shaping this outlook? The present article wants by making use of “perceptual-cognitive theory” of Lakoff and Johnson and metaphoric documentation analysis method of Millikan and also by examining the language used in speeches, statement of politicians and foreign ministers of Britain in relation to European integration, extract and analyze metaphors, signs, premise, symbols and systems indicating this discourse and explain the possibility of this attitude in foreign policy, the process of shaping British and European identity and also the common custom of this country towards European policy and the dynamic of such interpretation.