American Politics in Britain

On my third night in London, I sat in a pub with my roommates, talking with a British man and an Australian woman about the recent American election. Instead of discussing the bare minimum on the candidates, we got into a deep discussion about the candidates’ policies, their running mates, and other American political figure heads. The amount of information they knew about America was astounding! I was extremely embarrassed to be sitting there, as I did not even know the head of Australia’s government.

This situation was just one of the many times that a Brit has quizzed me on American politics. On the day of Obama’s inauguration, I was questioned by a worker at Madame Tussauds on my opinions about the soon-to-be president. Walking down Oxford Street one day when I stopped to ask for directions, a foreign-born Brit lectured me on Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy.

This past week as I sat talking with two British guys at a pub, the subject came around once again to American politics. We chatted about the election for a good twenty minutes, but the part that struck me most about this conversation was when one of the guys explained the importance of this election to the British. He explained that America was in essence electing the guy who would rule the entire world, because America has such great influence.

According to political analyst Robin Sheppard, America's future is of great important to the British. "It is Britain's closest ally and looks like it will continue to be, so there is firstly that on the broadly emotional grounds, secondly America is the most powerful country in the world so anything that America does, at least in the next few years, will have a tremendous effect on Britain. So economically, as well as socially and politically we are linked," he said.

This great influence that America has on the everyday life for the British perplexed me at first. As an economics major, however, I was better able to understand this idea in terms of the global economy. Since the world has become more globalized, the economies of foreign nations have become dependent upon each other. With one of the largest and most dependable economies, the United States has the power to control prices, interest rates, trade barriers, and much more. Exchange rates are a prime example of how the American economy directly affects the average Brit. With the majority of the world in the middle of a recession, the United States is viewed as a safe haven. Although the United States’ economy is struggling along with everyone else, investors know that in the long-run, America has the greatest chance of enduring. One need only look at the recent trend in exchange rates to view this. While only a year ago, it took $2 to buy one British pound, the exchange rate has recently fluctuated to around $1.44 equaling one pound. British money has become less valuable, making it more expensive for the Brits to buy goods from abroad.

America’s influence on the life of a European stretches far beyond the political and economic spectrum, reaching into the area of food and entertainment. Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds and Burger King line the streets of European cities as much as in America. The movies at a London cinema are nearly identical to those in St. Louis, and the celebrities flocking the magazine covers in the two cities are also very similar. While countries attempt to cling closely to their individuality, it is hard to ignore the current convergence of cultures.

The US election: Is it Europe's concern?
This link offers readers to post their thoughts on the 2000 US Election a few days before it occured but provides great insight into the average European's view on whether American politics are important for those across the ocean.