Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Sally Tomlinson
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Mass Education ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
British Identity ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Social Insecurity ◽  
The Eu

This book sets out to explain the failure at all educational levels to alleviate ignorance about the British Empire, the Commonwealth and the European Union, which underpin a populist view that there should be a white British identity unencumbered by immigrants and refugees. It covers the period from 1870 when imperialism was at its height and mass education was developing, to 2018 when the decision to leave the EU was influenced by ideological and political beliefs deriving from imperial times. The introduction covers the ‘long goodbye of Empire and delusions that Britain can be ‘Great’ when rising inequality over four decades has led to social and economic insecurity with people blaming immigrants for low wages and social insecurity

The EU during Brexit

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-34
Author(s):  
Federico Fabbrini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Military Cooperation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

This chapter analyses the European Union during Brexit, explaining how the EU institutions and Member States reacted to the UK’s decision to leave the EU. It outlines how they went about this in the course of the withdrawal negotiations. The EU institutions and Member States managed to adopt a very united stance vis-à-vis a withdrawing state, establishing effective institutional mechanisms and succeeding in imposing their strategic preferences in the negotiations with the UK. Nevertheless, the EU was also absorbed during Brexit by internal preparations to face both the scenario of a ‘hard Brexit’—the UK leaving the EU with no deal—and of a ‘no Brexit’—with the UK subsequently delaying exit and extending its EU membership. Finally, during Brexit the EU increasingly started working as a union of 27 Member States—the EU27—which in this format opened a debate on the future of Europe and developed new policy initiatives, especially in the field of defence and military cooperation.

The European Union: A Very Short Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Usherwood ◽  
John Pinder
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Early History ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
New Members ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is a unique political organization. Illustrating how and why it has developed from 1950 to the present day, The European Union: A Very Short Introduction covers a range of topics, including the EU’s early history, the workings of its institutions and what they do, the interplay between ‘eurosceptics’ and federalists, and the role of the EU beyond Europe in international affairs and as a peace-keeper. This new edition covers the migrant crisis, the UK’s decision to leave the EU, and how the EU continues to attract new members. It concludes by considering the future of the EU, and the choices and challenges that may lie ahead.

The European Union: How does it work?

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Expert Team ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Eu

The European Union: How Does It Work? is a perfect first introduction to the European Union, providing concise, accessible coverage of all the main actors, policies, and developments in the EU. An expert team of leading scholars and practitioners cuts through the complexity to explain clearly how the EU works in theory and practice. The book equips readers with the knowledge and skills required to master the subject. Throughout the text engaging and innovative features such as ‘How it really works’ and ‘Compared to what?’ boxes support the analysis, helping readers to think broadly and critically about the reality of EU politics and policy-making. This edition reflects the ongoing changes in the European Union in the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis, and also the changing global context in which the EU operates. In addition, it features a discussion of the topical debate about the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU.

scholarly journals To leave or not to leave? Understanding the support for the United Kingdom membership in the European Union: Identity, attitudes towards the political system and socio-economic status

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-277
Author(s):  
Nicola Pensiero
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Educational Level ◽  
Economic Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
British Identity ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
The Eu

This article proposes a decision model of the British support for leaving the European Union (EU) that includes both identity aspirations, attitudes towards the political system and economic interest and test it on the Understanding Society 6th, 7th and 8th surveys. Current studies tend to interpret the British Euroscepticism as a combination of attachment to British identity, lack of economic opportunities and dissatisfaction with the political class. Using this approach where factors are additive, it is not possible to account for the substantial portion of socio-economically advantaged individuals which prefer to leave the EU, and for those who, despite their low attachment to their British identity, the relatively high educational level and satisfaction with domestic democracy, prefer to leave the EU. I use a theoretical approach which considers both economic and cultural considerations as rational considerations and conceptualise their interaction in terms of trade off. I use classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative importance of the main explanatory factors and of their interaction. The results show that the negative evaluation of the political system makes certain groups, which otherwise tend to support European integration, lean towards Euroscepticism. It helps to explain the Euroscepticism of those who are less attached to their British identity and of advantaged classes. The results have also showed that anti-establishment attitudes are not associated with disadvantaged socio-economic groups. The dissatisfaction with domestic democracy is relevant mostly for the advantaged classes, and the lack of political efficacy affects equally the attitudes of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Last, disadvantaged groups’ support for European integration is driven by identity aspirations not by economic interest.

scholarly journals The Brexit deterrent? How member state exit shapes public support for the European Union

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652110327
Author(s):  
Sara B Hobolt ◽  
Sebastian Adrian Popa ◽  
Wouter Van der Brug ◽  
Hermann Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Positive Information ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
European Election ◽  
The Eu

What are the effects on public support for the European Union (EU) when a member state exits? We examine this question in the context of Britain's momentous decision to leave the EU. Combining analyses of the European Election Study 2019 and a unique survey-embedded experiment conducted in all member states, we analyse the effect of Brexit on support for membership among citizens in the EU-27. The experimental evidence shows that while information about the negative economic consequences of Brexit had no significant effect, positive information about Britain's sovereignty significantly increased optimism about leaving the EU. Our findings suggest that Brexit acts as a benchmark for citizens’ evaluations of EU membership across EU-27, and that it may not continue to act as a deterrent in the future.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Federico Fabbrini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Member State ◽  
European Integration ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Recovery Plan ◽  
The Future ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Eu

This introductory chapter provides an overview of how the European Union has been affected by the United Kingdom’s decision to leave, and what this means for the future of European integration. The departure of a large, rich, and influential Member State must prompt a rethink of the EU constitutional settlement. Immediately after the Brexit referendum, the EU and its Member States started a debate on the future of Europe—and this process is now moving from rhetoric to reality with the institution of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Conference on the Future of Europe can serve as an innovative means to reform the EU, tackling the transitional issues left by the UK’s withdrawal and addressing the more structural, substantive, and institutional weaknesses dramatically exposed by the plurality of other crises the EU has recently weathered. In fact, the Conference on the Future of Europe is made all the more urgent by Covid-19, and the exigencies of the EU post-pandemic recovery plan, which will entail important adjustments to the EU structure of powers and responsibilities. Ultimately, this book utilizes Brexit as a prism to shed light on the necessity and urgency of constitutional reforms in the EU.

The Constitution of European Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Parliaments ◽  
Member States ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
European Democracy ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Eu

Europe is in crisis. With rising unrest among citizens of European Union Member States exemplified by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union (EU), and the growing popularity of anti-EU political parties, this book presents the argument that Europe has to change its method of further integration or risks failure. The book asserts that currently the EU does not have enough sources of legitimation to uphold itself, surviving solely on the legitimation provided by Member States. One popular remedy is the suggestion of ‘parliamentarization’ of the EU, giving the European Parliament the powers typically possessed by national parliaments as a means of heightening its legitimation. This is criticized by the book as expanding the Parliament’s powers would not change the effects of over-constitutionalization as the Parliament is inferior to the constitution. In order to reduce the EU’s legitimacy deficit, the book makes several recommendations, including the re-politicization of the decision-making processes, which can be achieved by reducing treaties to the capacity necessary for their constitutional function; the reinvigoration of European Parliament elections, by having ‘Europeanized’ parties to increase engagement with European society and give voters the opportunity to more immediately influence European politics; and a new division of powers based on subject matter to restrain European expansionism, reserving particular areas of policy to the responsibility of Member States even if this affects the common market.

23. The EU as a new political system

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
System P ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the development and operation of the European Union from a comparative politics perspective. It first considers the evolution of the EU, from the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1951 that established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to the admission of Lithuania in 2015 as the nineteenth member of the Eurozone, and the UK's decision to leave the EU in 2016. The chapter then explores the process of European integration and goes on to explain what it means to think of the EU as a political system. It also describes the two basic dimensions of the EU system: the vertical dimension (the EU as a ‘regulatory state’) and the horizontal dimension (the design and operation of EU decision-making). The chapter concludes by analysing the ‘missing link’ in the EU system — the lack of genuine democratic politics.

23. The EU as a New Political System

2020 ◽  
pp. 419-438
Author(s):  
Simon Hix
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Political System ◽  
Vertical Dimension ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
System P ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the development and operation of the European Union from a comparative politics perspective. It first considers the evolution of the EU, from the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1951 that established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to the admission of Lithuania in 2015 as the nineteenth member of the Eurozone, and the UK’s decision to leave the EU in 2016. The chapter then explores the process of European integration and goes on to explain what it means to think of the EU as a political system. It also describes the two basic dimensions of the EU system: the vertical dimension (the EU as a ‘regulatory state’) and the horizontal dimension (the design and operation of EU decision-making). The chapter concludes by analysing the ‘missing link’ in the EU system— the lack of genuine democratic politics.

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