Brexit: Europe's ‘Black Thursday’ and Scotland's Future

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eberhard Bort

The shock waves of the UK's EU referendum outcome reverberate in a Divided Kingdom, with huge implications for Scotland and Northern Ireland, and across Europe, where populists of all political shades take succour from the UK electorate's decision (51.9% for Leave, 48.1% Remain) to end the country's 43-year membership of the European project. The campaign was dominated by hyperbole and outright lies, with racist and xenophobic undertones, the result quite apparently unexpected, the aftermath chaotic, and it remains to be seen what the long-term impact on the UK-EU relationship, on the UK constitution, on ‘Scotland's place in Europe’, and on the future of the European Union will be.

2020 ◽  
pp. 464-506
Author(s):  
Nigel Foster

This chapter charts the long association of the UK with the EU. It considers all aspects of this relationship including pre membership, entry to the EC (EU), the first UK EU referendum in 1975 and the relationship over five decades. It considers how EU law was granted supremacy over UK law and how the courts viewed this. It considers the period up to and, including the 2016 UK EU referendum on exiting or remaining in the EU and the immediate consequences of that. Finally, and now most importantly, it looks at the negotiations and means by which the UK legally exited the EU on 31 January and the movement into the next stage of that relationship: the future trade relationship with the EU.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-149
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly

This special issue of International Studies focuses on ‘how the British-exit is impacting the European Union’. This introduction is a review of the context, costs and institutional repercussions, as well as the very recent the UK/European Union trade deal and implications for customs borders. Eight articles then detail consequences for European Union policies and important trading relationships: Immigration, Citizenship, Gender, Northern Ireland, Trade and impacts on India, Canada and Japan.


Author(s):  
Michael Dougan

Following a national referendum on 23 June 2016, the UK announced its intention to end its decades-long membership of the EU. That decision initiated a process of complex negotiations, governed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, with a view to making the arrangements required for an ‘orderly Brexit’. This book explores the UK’s departure from the EU from a legal perspective. As well as analysing the various constitutional principles relevant to ‘EU withdrawal law’, and detailing the main issues and problems arising during the Brexit process itself, the book provides a critical analysis of the final EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement—including dedicated chapters on the future protection of citizens’ rights, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the prospects for future EU–UK relations in fields such as trade and security.


Author(s):  
Federico Fabbrini

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.


Author(s):  
Anand Menon ◽  
Luigi Scazzieri

This chapter examines the history of the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European integration process. The chapter dissects the long-term trends in public opinion and the more contingent, short-term factors that led to the referendum vote to leave the European Union. The UK was a late joiner and therefore unable to shape the early institutional development of the EEC. British political parties and public opinion were always ambiguous about membership and increasingly Eurosceptic from the early 1990s. Yet the UK had a significant impact on the EU’s development, in the development of the single market programme and eastward enlargement. If Brexit goes through, Britain will nevertheless maintain relations with the EU in all policy areas from agriculture to energy and foreign policy. Europeanization will remain a useful theoretical tool to analyse EU–UK relations even if the UK leaves the Union.


2019 ◽  
pp. 341-353
Author(s):  
Marcel Kordos

The possibility of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union has never been more realistic and up-to-date since joining the European Communities (EC) as it is today. The UK is facing a unique situation. At present, this depends solely on the capabilities of European and British government officials, who negotiate the terms of withdrawal and future cooperation between the two entities. The main goal of this paper is based on the British – Slovak trade relations development analysis to figure out their impact within the Brexit consequences on the future Slovak economy and its current status in international economic relations. The paper also provides a basic overview of Brexit process and its possible impact on the EU's further functioning. Basic data will be drawn from generally accepted institutions, evaluating the UK and Slovak trade and economic performance. To accomplish this goal, methods such as analysis and comparison to illustrate the UK-Slovak foreign trade development, synthesis and logical deduction to discuss the Brexit impact on Slovak economic environment in the future are to be used; data from scientific and professional publications, periodical and non-periodical press. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis, which showed that because of the size of economic relations between Slovakia and the United Kingdom and the number of goods and services being exported to the UK, the «hard» Brexit will be very unfavourable for Slovak foreign trade due to the possible tariffs being imposed. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that it can cause a significant weakening and slowdown in the Slovak economy. Either way, the upcoming Brexit process, that is the withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union, would have a major impact not only on British, European but also on the world economy. The impact of Brexit on Slovakia's economy will not only be in reducing the possible growth of the economy, but also in employment and price increases. Keywords: EU single market, Britain's withdrawal from the EU, foreign trade policy instruments analysis, international economics, Slovak economy slowdown prediction, Slovak foreign trade commodity structure analysis.


2020 ◽  
pp. 229-242
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Balawajder

The subject of the paper is reflections on the consequences of Brexit for the functioning of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The author explains what this border means when the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the European Union, and thus the border may be a barrier to the free movement of people, goods, capital and services. At the same time, it is stressed that the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union will have a significant impact on the change of the function of this border, which from then on is no longer an internal border of the Union. The aim of the paper is therefore to analyse the consequences of this change, with a simultaneous indication of different models of the UK’s functioning with relation to the European Union and their impact on the British-Irish relations, especially with regard to the various dimensions of the border as a barrier. The article presents various scenarios of solutions that will determine their mutual relations as a result of negotiations between the European Union and Great Britain, especially with regard to access to the single European market, which in turn will be influenced by the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland in the scope of the free movement of people, goods, capital and services. The author used the system analysis method and the comparative method. The author puts forward the thesis that if the negotiations cause a fairly strong loosening of relations between the UK and the European Union, to mitigate the consequences of such a situation for the Irish-British relations, it will be necessary to find and develop bilateral solutions that will facilitate border crossing. The Smart Border 2.0 concept can constitute such a solution.


2014 ◽  
pp. 116-131
Author(s):  
Beata Słupek

The subject of this publication is the scepticism regarding the future of the European Union in the UK. The research is based on Eurobarometer surveys conducted over the period of five years. A purpose of the research is to show the relationship between the results of the Eurobarometer survey on the future of the EU, and the eurosceptic views in the UK. The main research questions is: is the UK sceptical about the future of the EU? Hypothesis of this publication is that the UK is sceptical about the future of the European Union. The reasons for such attitudes are not analysed here – the article is merely an attempt to present the societal attitudes. The research method employed is the comparative critical analysis of quantitative data. The conclusion is that Great Britain is not significantly eurosceptic. British people are, however, less enthusiastic about what is happening at present in the EU, and also are showing greater anxieties when it comes to the future of the EU.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-183
Author(s):  
Willem Maas

Although traumatic, the ongoing Brexit process does not fundamentally alter either the legal status of European citizenship or the debates about it within the European Union (EU). Citizenship and free movement are so fundamental to the European project that even the new status of an important state like the UK does not change the political dynamics surrounding them.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212199054
Author(s):  
Nicola McEwen ◽  
Mary C Murphy

This article examines the effects of Brexit on the internal boundaries and territorial future of the United Kingdom (UK). Divergent Brexit preferences, coupled with the process of negotiating and preparing for Brexit, have raised new questions about the ability of the UK to remain united. Focusing upon Scotland and Northern Ireland, where territorial challenges are most acute, the article draws upon and adapts Hirschman’s voice, exit and loyalty framework to examine the strategic choices and options faced by institutional actors in each case when determining constitutional and political options in response to Brexit. The article contends that, while credible exit threats were used to bolster voice in the Brexit negotiations, the Brexit vote and subsequent process have exposed the limitations of territorial voice, and unleashed new exit dynamics. We enhance the framework by exploring the concept of re-entry, exploring the contrasting paths these territories would face to re-enter the European Union (EU).


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