Why De Gaulle Would Applaud Brexit (original) (raw)

Charles De Gaulle's Vision for a United Europe through his Second World War Speeches

Universal Journal of History and Culture, 2023

Due to the Brexit agreement, the former French President Charles de Gaulle comes to the fore again. His veto of Britain's application to join the EEC (in 1963 and 1967) becomes timely today. In the past, he was treated as an obstacle to the European unification process, but today he is seen as an insightful politician with intuitive thinking. On this basis, an overall re-evaluation of his political trajectory may be necessary. This article focuses upon the speeches de Gaulle gave in the Second World War and proceeds to some remarks on how he truly envisaged an integrated Europe during that period of time.

Re-examining de Gaulle's rejection of British membership in the European Economic Community

Eastern Journal of European Studies, 2019

This article aims to explain the reasons behind Charles de Gaulle's rejection of British membership in the European Economic Community. Britain applied to join the organisation twice, first in 1963 and then again in 1967, but was rejected by the French president Charles de Gaulle. The rejection seems relevant now since Britain intends to disengage itself from the EU. The cause of rejection, however, was the British close relationship to the United States, which, in de Gaulle's opinion, was a threat to a united Europe. This article also aims to explain the various factors that motivated Britain, which was fundamentally against a united Europe, to join the EEC while knowing that the EEC was based on the concept of a united Europe. Using a historical causal method and a political approach, the writers conclude that while Britain was more or less forced to act by economic issues, de Gaulle's rejection was rather political in nature.

De Gaulle as a Father of Europe

De Gaulle as a Father of Europe: The Unpredictability of the FTA's Failure and the EEC's Success (1956–58) (CEH, 2011) Abstract: The failure of the Free Trade Area (FTA), a British ‘Greater Europe’ free-market project, has often been contrasted with the European Economic Community (EEC)'s rapid success. However, this article claims that the EEC's success was neither logical nor automatic. The FTA project was not bound to failure, but could easily have become the principal institution for European co-operation. Moreover, the French leader, Charles de Gaulle, played such a prominent role in the EEC that he could be described as a new ‘Father of Europe’. Without the EEC, France would certainly have been forced to reach agreement on the FTA, but conversely, without de Gaulle, the EEC would probably have been diluted into a larger FTA.

Churchill the European has been written out of history

London School of Economics and Political Science, 2020

Churchill the European has been written out of history Churchill devoted considerable resources, money, speech-making, and political organization to the cause of European unity. Today, Churchill the European is being written out of British history, writes Denis MacShane. One of the comfort blankets for pro-Brexit evangelists is that Germany will ride to Boris Johnson's rescue and sideline Michel Barnier and impose a political deal that chimes with the wishes of Dominic Cummings or Michael Gove, and other Brexit hardliners. Sometimes President Macron is mentioned as the man on a white horse who can send Barnier packing and cut a deal mano-à-mano with the UK prime minister. French food and wine exports, and German automobile exports, are so important to Paris and Berlin, runs the argument, that the two leading governments will accept far more of what the UK is demanding than the inflexible team from Brussels. There is not the slightest evidence for this. It is true that elected political leaders across the Channel have on the whole not attacked Brexit, or Johnson, though that may be because since February they have been overwhelmed by Coronavirus. Emmanuel Macron has been an elected politician for 40 months. Barnier was an elected French politician for 40 years rising to the highest post in the French government and the European Commission. While English newspapers are full of insult against a group known as "The Europeans", Michel Barnier has been on a punishing non-stop round of visits and talks to 27 national government leaders and their parliaments. The British decision not to honour the international treaty consisting of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Protocol on Northern Ireland, has caused an uproar. Even if many in Britain see it as a negotiating ploy, the language of repudiating international law produced rebuke from Clément Beaune, the unflamboyant French Europe minister who has been Macron's main aide on EU politics in the Elysée since 2017.

Charles De Gaulles Life and His Influence over Politics

above France spreading his ideas to all around the world. He was born to a significant period of history, raised by his Catholic family. In his early life, De Gaulle enrolled in several military schools as his dreams led him to do so. The process has taken him to separated position in which he located himself as the protector of France's freedom; and he served as president in Fifth Republic of France for many years. His political position and ideology created a sphere for people to discuss his influence on world politics. The subjects of debates over De Gaulle's politics were mainly related to nationalism, European integration, NATO and the way of France's ruling system. In contemporary France, his political views are still reflected in political movements. In this paper, I will mention mostly about Charles De Gaulle's early life, his military career, his achievements in WWI, WWII, and politics, which he enrolled in Fifth Republic, and the effects of his ideology, called Gaullism, in contemporary French republic and

In, out, or half way? The European attitude in the speeches of British leaders

Lingue E Linguaggi, 2014

It cannot be denied that Britain is normally seen as an awkward partner in EU affairs (George 1994), and in many ways the British have always been half-in: in the two-speed Europe slogan, Britain is seen as a slow traveller (Musolff 2004), as a member that makes slow progress, it if is at all on the European path. The purpose of this paper is to try and unveil, with evidence at hand, the sentiment of the British leaders with respect to the European Union. Interestingly, the current government includes both Conservatives and Lib-Dems leaders, and it is well known that the former have been, more often than not, against Europe whereas the latter are highly passionate about their pro-Europeanism. Interviews, statements and speeches proper are thus analysed and compared: first wordlists are generated, then keywords lists and finally key-clusters lists (Scott 2012), with the purpose of identifying "aboutgrams" (Warren 2010; Sinclair, Tognini Bonelli 2011), and see what the two governments have in common, but mostly what differentiates them with regard to the European Union, i.e. what is prioritized in one administration and was not in another, clearly signalling a change in priorities (Cheng 2004; Cheng et al. 2006; Cheng et al. 2009). The study is a diachronic analysis, in the attempt to see how previous discourses have been reinterpreted, given that forty years after joining the Union the British are still reluctant Europeans who still consider Europe "abroad", thus slowing the "ever-closer union" envisaged in the Treaty of Rome, and who still have been calling for referendums, even more so after the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

Charles de Gaulle: The Warrior as Statesman

Charles de Gaulle is primarily remembered as the leader of “Free France” between 1940 and 1945, as well as for his time as president of the Fourth and Fifth Republics. This article explores some of the sources of his political belief system, using his military writ- ings of the 1920s and 1930s before he became a celebrated politician. It suggests that his political views can only be understood as being influenced by his experiences as a soldier and his reflections thereon in those military writings.

Rousseau's Revenge: The Political Philosophy of Brexit

The political philosophy behind Brexit was a product of disenchantment stemming from political inequality associated with post-democracy. The referendum itself was an attempt to allay fears that popular opinion was being excluded on the EU issue. This chapter explains that political representation under post-democracy highlights the fundamental inequality between ruled and ruling that preoccupied Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Yet resorting to direct democracy to create political equality between governed and governing worked only momentarily. The challenge thus facing the British political establishment after Brexit is that of maintaining belief in the representativeness of the governing and in the sovereignty of the people. Rousseau's revenge comes not by providing a counter-model of democracy, but rather by asking questions representative democracy struggles to answer. Abstract The political philosophy behind Brexit was a product of disenchant-ment stemming from political inequality associated with post-democracy. The referendum itself was an attempt to allay fears that popular opinion was being excluded on the EU issue. This chapter explains that political representation under post-democracy highlights the fundamental inequality between ruled and ruling that preoccupied Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Yet resorting to direct democracy to create political equality between governed and governing worked only momentarily. The challenge thus facing the British political establishment after Brexit is that of maintaining belief in the representativeness of the governing and in the sovereignty of the people. Rousseau's revenge comes not by providing a counter-model of democracy, but rather by asking questions representative democracy struggles to answer.

National Atmospheres and the 'Brexit' Revolt

Society and Space open site, 2016

There is no shortage of opinion pieces claiming to know what the Referendum held on 23 June 2016 on the UK's membership of the European Union represents. ii Yet in these early months, it is by no means clear what kind of an event this was and what might yet unfold from it. What is clearer is how this political moment has been felt, embodied and sensed, at least among many on the progressive Left. I know that I'm not alone in feeling exhausted by emotions as well as by the intensified atmospheres of fear, shame and anger (Orbach, 2016). In this vote, a right wing English nationalism iii that erupts from time to time bloomed in a thousand tiny ways. The heightened nationalist atmosphere led to a marked rise in racist attacks and hate crimes against minorities. iv Following the initial impasse that came with the result, the UK now has a more right wing government than it had previously and a Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs that has a history of making racist statements. All this seems to have been legitimised, or grudgingly accepted, at least for the moment. How might we understand and place this revitalised nationalism as well as the ways in which it circulated in and through this particular referendum campaign? What made this nationalist atmosphere possible and what does it mean for the politics of the Left? The decision that the UK should leave the European Union cannot be blamed on the poor, uneducated or abject. As Geography Professor Danny Dorling has shown (2016), most people who voted 'Leave' lived in the south of England. And of all those who voted 'Leave', 59% were in the middle classes (A, B, or C1 social groups). According to Dorling's analysis, the proportion of 'Leave' voters who were of the lowest two social classes (D and E) was just 24%. He concludes that 'Leave voters among the middle class were crucial to the final result' (Dorling, 2016: 1). This constituency and noisy minority are aunts, fathers, bosses and neighbours: they are the people who have 'wanted to have their say on 'Europe'' for a long time. Nick Clegg, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister between 2010-2015 apparently insisted several times in talks with former Prime Minister David Cameron that a government cannot afford to hand them the microphone (Clegg, 2016). In the event, this core anti-Europeanism combined and blended with other political grievances and feelings. The Referendum-initially the result of an internal Conservative party struggle-thereby managed to expose a deep vacuum in ideas, narratives and visions among the UK political parties. It is this vacuum that enabled English nationalism to take hold and expand its reach. This particular form of nationalism is nostalgic for Britain's 'greatness', melancholic for a 'purer' British society (Gilroy, 2004), and defensive about the privileges that it enjoys and the extent to which it might share those with others. However, it can't be mapped directly onto 'England': it's a