1. Britain – the reluctant European

This will be a brief overview of Britain’s relationship pre-membership as well as being a member of the EEC and subsequent iterations. Was Britain the only ‘reluctant’ member? What is a ‘reluctant European’?

Readings:

Jones, A. (2016); Britain and the European Union 2^nd edition. See chapter 2 (this will be sent as an attached Word document for sharing with students)

Cinnirella, M. and Hamilton, S. (2007) “Are all Britons reluctant Europeans? Exploring European identity and attitudes to Europe among British citizens of South Asian ethnicity” Ethnic and Racial Studies vol 30-3. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01419870701217530?casa_token=LQlcteCLueUAAAAA:y4vWhqVjMbd34DpR21aKkEZSHgOlU9dVJWkSsSIoguafYKJxOjDZLD9-M3TuwWKqteJdw4fkPw8

McKinlay, A., Mercer, H. & Rollings, N. (2000); “Reluctant Europeans? The Federation of British Industries and European Integration, 1945–63” Business History vol. 42-4 Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00076790000000303?casa_token=YJZ2lW80DfgAAAAA:P8UHCicSpBIlUjkA5r5VZqdL9iJudFPVSTk0sKf9DMR2AVfFsUa1qJdbIm-ndKN3r2DcowqXREg

Forster, A. (1998); “No entry: Britain and the EEC in the 1960s” Contemporary British History vol. 12-2. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13619469808581483?casa_token=2iCULTU3UxEAAAAA:oxdXW5V_JodHIBebeLJiXbZPnsvYCgj_-89wwpDpgEr0ZmXTqbgin_BUVqzIinYvrg6lNvVdM0Q

This is a review of several books on this topic

2. The Origins of Brexit

This session will focus on how Brexit came about. There are domestic political issues from the time of the Blair Government through to the government of David Cameron. The role of the media at this time period will also be covered.

Readings:

Jones, A. (2016); Britain and the European Union 2^nd edition. See chapters 10 and 11 (these will be sent as attached Word documents for sharing with students)

Goodwin, M. (2017); “Brexit: Causes and Consequences” Royal Geographical Society, Monday Night Lectures Available at https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/pdf/216th_Recent_JEF_Activity_02.pdf

Arnorsson, A. and Zoega, G. (2018); “On the causes of Brexit” European Journal of Political Economy vol. 55 Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268016302701?casa_token=twmOLlgRmDMAAAAA:vp2H7MwnlQYP8awzFALJD3_QLRnBCaNRMnmKJBel6efOI9HSGk6DKibJ0K2XqrTF-Hu428Xd

3. Brexit Referendum

This session will examine the referendum campaign. This will include the separate campaign groups, the individuals, and the role of the media. In many respects, this session will focus on lies, damned lies, and even more lies (from both sides).

Readings:

McNeil, A. and Haberstroh, C. (2023); “Intergenerational social mobility and the Brexit vote: How social origins and destinations divide Britain” European Journal of Political Research vol. 62 Available at https://ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1475-6765.12526

Becker, S., Fetzer, T. and Novy, D. (2017); “Who voted for Brexit? A comprehensive district-level analysis” Economic Policy, Volume 32, Issue 92. Available at https://academic.oup.com/economicpolicy/article/32/92/601/4459491

Curtice, J. (2016); “Brexit: Behind the Referendum” Political Insight vol. 7-2 Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/2041905816666122

4. Brexit Delivered, or not

Has Brexit actually been delivered? The answer is ‘No’, as Brexit is a process rather than a single event – and Britain has left the EU. What have been the consequences? What is Britain’s role in the world today?

Readings:

Jones, A. (2021); "Getting Brexit Done and the future of the UK-EU relationship" in Mair, J., Clark, T., Fowler, N., Snoddy R. and Tait, R. (eds.) Populism, Pandemic and the Media (this will be sent as an attached Word document for sharing with students).

Menon, A. and Salter, J. (2016); “Brexit: initial reflections” International Affairs 92-6 Available at https://www.jstor.org/tc/accept?origin=%2Fstable%2Fpdf%2F45238134.pdf%3Fcasa_token%3DcPC2P-P7ka4AAAAA%3AzQTqYEAE1SpcV18QXG9s9JidNIRY6vwfIniteOQfAB0-bhqhXEf3PcSfleDOPR8o0XXubnrDuzcWGo1Xpn3x8g6e8WYz6zp5gz4U5QdG-A_099i0bA&is_image=False

Sampson, T. (2017); “Brexit: The Economics of International Disintegration” Journal of Economic Perspectives vol 31-4 Available at https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257/jep.31.4.163

Glencross, A. (2023); “The origins of ‘cakeism’: the British think tank debate over repatriating sovereignty and its impact on the UK’s Brexit strategy” Journal of European Public Policy vol. 30-6 Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13501763.2022.2072371

5. The EU without Britain – who else might leave

This session will examine two themes. The first is the extent to which the EU is managing without British membership. The biggest issue here was Britain’s net budgetary contribution. There is also the question as to who else might leave. Far-right parties, campaigning to leave the EU, have had electoral success – most recently in the Netherlands.

Readings:

Adam Łazowski (2013); “How to withdraw from the European Union? Confronting hard reality” CEPS Commentary Available at https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/157509/How%20to%20withdraw%20from%20the%20EU.pdf

Eichhorn, J., Hübner, C. & Kenealy, D. (2016); “The view from the continent: What people in other member states think about the UK’s EU referendum” Dpart – a thinktank for political participation. Available at https://dpart.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/The-View-from-the-Continent.pdf

B Whitlock (2018); “First Brexit, then Czexit? Unlikely - Czech attitudes to Europe are very different” LSE Brexit Available at https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/88937/

Michal Kopeček (2019); “Sovereignty, ‘Return to Europe’ and Democratic Distrust in the East after 1989 in the Light of Brexit” Contemporary European History vol. 28-1 Available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/sovereignty-return-to-europe-and-democratic-distrust-in-the-east-after-1989-in-the-light-of-brexit/C7C25A37DE239977E490A8CF8D6D4151

Gastlinger, M. (2019); “Brexit! Grexit? Frexit? Considerations on How to Explain and Measure the Propensities of Member States to Leave the European Union” Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper No. RSCAS 2019/85, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3489132 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3489132

Florea, D. and Gales, N. (2021); “Polexit - Is the Exit of Poland from the EU a Viable Option?” European Journal of Law and Public Administration vol. 8-1 Available at https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ejlpa8&id=29&collection=journals&index=