Brexit: a Certain Idea of Europe
The reasons for the result of the UK’s June 2016 referendum reveal nothing we didn’t already know. They have to do with the development of British society and political debates particular to the UK.
This points to a fundamental difference in the conception of the nature and objective of the European construction. The United Kingdom hasn’t been the naughty student of the European class as it has often been described. However, its heritage and culture mean that it favors an idea of a Europe in which sovereignty remains within the states.
Jonathan Story is Emeritus Professor of International Political Economy at INSEAD, Fontainebleau.
Article published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 82, No. 2, Summer 2017
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Brexit: a Certain Idea of Europe
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