Bresit seen from the inside (original) (raw)
The UK government has been renegotiating aspects of Britain's terms of membership of the European Union (EU) with a view to putting those revised terms to a referendum vote in which people will be invited to choose between remaining in the EU or leaving. A wide range of issues have been discussed during the course of this process so far, including the impact of EU membership on migration, Britain's economy, the country's welfare bill, and the sovereignty and security of the UK. So far, this primarily is not striking at all considering Great Britain long-standing 'struggle' with EU ever since they joined in 1973. British remain significantly less enthusiastic than their neighbours about EU membership and the EU more widely. That a large number in Britain share a Eurosceptic outlook can also be seen in their responses to the question of how they intend to vote at the referendum, which should first be situated in broader context.
Examining Brexit: Level of Analysis and Explanations
Comillas Journal of International Relations, 2021
This article analyses the scholarly debate on the Brexit phenomenon and its possible causes. By contextualizing Brexit in the International Relations Theory debate about the levels of analysis, the article focuses on some of the most recent contributions of the Brexit literature. Firstly, it analyses the contributions that explain Brexit as a problem of international and European politics, related to the adaptation of the United Kingdom to the process of European integration. Secondly, it analyses the contributions that explain Brexit as the result of causes located at the domestic level, such as the decisions and perceptions of national leaders, the decision-making process, and the impact of populist and Eurosceptic political discourse. The article identifies the advantages of an approach capable of considering both international and domestic variables. This allows a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and a potentially fruitful collaboration between political scientists from di...
EXAMINING BREXIT: LEVELS OF ANALYSIS AND EXPLANATIONS
Comillas Journal of International Relations, 2021
This article analyses the scholarly debate on the Brexit phenomenon and its possible causes. By contextualizing Brexit in the International Relations Theory debate about the levels of analysis, the article focuses on some of the most recent contributions of the Brexit literature. Firstly, it analyses the contributions that explain Brexit as a problem of international and European politics, related to the adaptation of the United Kingdom to the process of European integration. Secondly, it analyses the contributions that explain Brexit as the result of causes located at the domestic level, such as the decisions and perceptions of national leaders, the decision-making process, and the impact of populist and Eurosceptic political discourse. The article identifies the advantages of an approach capable of considering both international and domestic variables. This allows a deeper understanding of the phenomenon and a potentially fruitful collaboration between political scientists from different disciplines, such as International Relations Theory and Comparative Politics.
GREAT BRITAIN’S EXIT FROM THE EU- BREXIT
Conteporary Macedonian Defence, 2021
Abstract: This paper analyzes the attitude of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland towards European integration before and after the referendum on 23 June, in which the citizens of Great Britain voted to leave the full membership of the Euro- pean Commonwealth. The paper points out that Great Britain had certain reservations about the realization of the plan for European integration, and it underlines the complexity of Great Britain’s attitude towards European integration, which can be most clearly shown through the analysis of its traditional geographical and cultural isolationism, but also through integration, before and after its accession to the European Community in 1973. In the end, it is concluded that Brexit surprised the ruling elite in both Great Britain and the EU and it is emphasized that it is a historical event of first-class importance for the country itself, which produces numerous economic and geopolitical consequences for Europe and the whole world. Key words: European Union, United Kingdom, Brexit, Article 50, Treaty on European Union, negotiations.
EUROPEAN, BUT NOT EUROPEAN ENOUGH: AN EXPLANATION FOR BREXIT
In this article, we argue that most of the existing explanations for Brexit are unsatisfactory because they fail to answer two critical questions: ‘Why was it that the UK voted to leave rather than any other member state?’; and‘Why did the UK vote to Leave in 2016rather than at any point in the past?’ We then outline our explanation for Brexit. The UK has long been one of the most Eurosceptic countries in the EU, and the reason why is that Britons have a comparatively weak sense of European identity. Since the early 1990s, Britons’ Euroscepticism has been amplified by four key developments: the ERM crisis; the increasing extent of European integration; the Eurozone debt crisis; and mass immigration from Eastern Europe.
How did it come to a Brexit? Anti-politics and UKIP's effects on the EU referendum
Last time the British people were asked about membership to a European grouping the vote was two-to-one for continued membership. That was in 1975 and it seems a lot has changed in the subsequent decades. Not only did 52% vote for a Brexit, but we also now see a pro-Europe Scotland and a Eurosceptic England – the reverse of 1975. A question that must be asked – and will be by journalists, politicians and academics alike as Britain negotiates its exit – is simply, how did it come to this?
UNDERSTANDING BREXIT: REASONS, GOALS AND MECHANISMS
The primary aim of my research is to answer conceptual questions about the meanings and values which shaped the (Leave) discourse (…) Since Vote Leave ran a successful campaign, we can imagine (though we cannot say for certain) that the values and concepts which drove the campaign have a chance of continuing to shape Britain as an actor, as Brexit unfolds. Through engaging with the discourse, I aim to answer two related questions: why were the proponents’ arguments appealing to voters? And what were the ultimate goals of the campaign’s proponents? The first question I shall answer in two parts: What themes and ideas had a psychological impact upon voters (in Chapter 2)? And what mechanisms (leading to action) did these themes and ideas tap into (Chapter 4)?
EUROPEAN BUT NOT EUROPEAN ENOUGH: THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF BREXIT
On 23 June the United Kingdom held a referendum to gauge public support for continued British membership of the European Union with a majority voting in favour of 'Leave'. The causes of 'Brexit' have garnered significant attention from academics and commentators, with many explanations focusing on issues of sovereignty, immigration, fiscal austerity, xenophobia and imperial nostalgia, while others have looked to socio-demographic divides based on age, class and the 'winners and losers of globalisation'. We argue that these explanations fail to answer the key aggregate-level questions of why Britain voted to leave now, rather than at any other time, and why Britain, rather than any other member state, voted to leave. We account for Brexit by showing that Britain was always more Eurosceptic than other member states due, ultimately, to historical reasons that today manifest themselves in uniquely weak micro-level integration and that this tension became increasingly apparent as European integration deepened. We then show how post-2004 immigration mobilised the British working and lower middle class, whose consistent Euroscepticism had, until the referendum, been silenced by the UK's pre-2010 party system's consensus on membership. We end by considering the potential ramifications of the referendum for the future of the UK and the EU.
Comparative European Politics
What is the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on British policies, polity and politics and their future trajectories? This question has been overlooked so far, as many observers have focused on the identity, cultural, and political reasons behind the Brexit vote or scrutinized closely the process of withdrawal. The de-Europeanization literature has tried to capture the new dynamics behind the impact of Brexit on the domestic scene by understanding it as a will to dismantle policies and politics previously Europeanized. On the contrary, we argue here that Brexit is not necessarily the end of UK’s engagement with the EU. This editorial and this special issue provide a more nuanced explanation and support the idea that Brexit is not putting an end to the EU’s influence over British public policies. In fact, we identify several pathways to the EU–UK relationship which can be conceptualized along a continuum from de-Europeanization to re-engagement scenarios. Building on the lite...
Since the United Kingdom’s referendum on European Union membership, a number of explanations have been put forward for the vote to leave. In this article, we argue that none of them provides a satisfactory account. We then outline an alternative explanation. The UK has long been one of the most Eurosceptic countries in the EU, and the reason why is that Britons have a weaker sense of European identity––an identity which is rooted in specific aspects of the country’s history. Since the early 1990s, Britons’ Euroscepticism has been amplified by four key developments: the ERM crisis; the increasing pace of European integration; the Eurozone debt crisis; and immigration from Eastern Europe. Our explanation answers two critical questions: ‘Why did the UK that voted to leave, rather than any other member state?’; and, ‘Why did the UK vote to Leave in 2016, rather than at any point in the past?’
Britain, Brexit and Euroscepticism
Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 2021
When history books about Brexit are written a key question asked will be ‘how did it happen?’ How did a country renowned for stable governments, pragmatism and diplomacy produce a chaotic outcome so harmful to its economic interests and international standing? This article examines the factors that produced Brexit by analysing its political and historical context, the main campaign groups and their communication strategies. Drawing on the work of Verdery (1999), Maskovsky and Bjork-James (2020) and other anthropologists, I suggest we need to look beyond conventional political science concepts and consider Brexit in terms of ‘enchantment’, ‘angry politics’ and ‘technopopulism’. I conclude that while Brexit provides a window for analysing fault lines in contemporary Britain, it also highlights problems in the EU, its austerity politics and democratic deficit.