Why the UK Voted for Brexit

Why the UK Voted for Brexit PDF

Author: Andrew Glencross

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-26

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 1137590017

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This book studies the unprecedented decision of 23 June 2016, which saw the UK electorate vote to leave the EU, turning David Cameron’s referendum gamble into a great miscalculation. It analyzes the renegotiation that preceded the vote, before examining the campaign itself so as to understand why the government’s strategy for winning foundered. It then evaluates the implications that this decision has for the country’s international relations as well as for its domestic politics. The author’s final reflections are on the political philosophy of Brexit, which is founded on a critique of representative democracy. Yet the use of direct democracy to trigger EU withdrawal leaves the supposedly sovereign British people at an impasse. For it is up to the people’s representatives to negotiate the terms of Brexit. By engaging with a highly charged political debate in an accessible and non-partisan manner this book will appeal to a broad readership of academics, policy-makers, journalists, and interested citizens.

Brexit

Brexit PDF

Author: Harold D. Clarke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-04-20

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1108293662

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In June 2016, the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting to leave the European Union. As this book reveals, the historic vote for Brexit marked the culmination of trends in domestic politics and in the UK's relationship with the EU that have been building over many years. Drawing on a wealth of survey evidence collected over more than ten years, this book explains why most people decided to ignore much of the national and international community and vote for Brexit. Drawing on past research on voting in major referendums in Europe and elsewhere, a team of leading academic experts analyse changes in the UK's party system that were catalysts for the referendum vote, including the rise of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the dynamics of public opinion during an unforgettable and divisive referendum campaign, the factors that influenced how people voted and the likely economic and political impact of this historic decision.

Understanding Brexit

Understanding Brexit PDF

Author: Graham Taylor

Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing

Published: 2017-11-29

Total Pages: 157

ISBN-13: 1787146790

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On 23rd June 2016, the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting to leave the European Union. This short book examines why this happened, examining the historical, economic, political, social and cultural reasons that led to the Brexit vote.

Brexit and Beyond

Brexit and Beyond PDF

Author: Benjamin Martill

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2018-01-29

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1787352773

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Brexit will have significant consequences for the country, for Europe, and for global order. And yet much discussion of Brexit in the UK has focused on the causes of the vote and on its consequences for the future of British politics. This volume examines the consequences of Brexit for the future of Europe and the European Union, adopting an explicitly regional and future-oriented perspective missing from many existing analyses. Drawing on the expertise of 28 leading scholars from a range of disciplines, Brexit and Beyond offers various different perspectives on the future of Europe, charting the likely effects of Brexit across a range of areas, including institutional relations, political economy, law and justice, foreign affairs, democratic governance, and the idea of Europe itself. Whilst the contributors offer divergent predictions for the future of Europe after Brexit, they share the same conviction that careful scholarly analysis is in need – now more than ever – if we are to understand what lies ahead for the EU. Praise for Brexit and Beyond 'a wide-ranging and thought-provoking tour through the vagaries of British exit, with the question of Europe’s fate never far from sight...Brexit is a wake-up call for the EU. How it responds is an open question—but respond it must. To better understand its options going forward you should turn to this book, which has also been made free online.' Prospect Magazine 'This book explores wonderfully well the bombshell of Brexit: is it a uniquely British phenomenon or part of a wider, existential crisis for the EU? As the tensions and complexities of the Brexit negotiations come to the fore, the collection of essays by leading scholars will prove a very valuable reference for their depth of analysis, their lucidity, and their outlining of future options.' - Kevin Featherstone, Head of the LSE European Institute, London School of Economics 'Brexit and Beyond is a must read. It moves the ongoing debate about what Brexit actually means to a whole new level. While many scholars to date have examined the reasons for the British decision to leave, the crucial question of what Brexit will mean for the future of the European project is often overlooked. No longer. Brexit and Beyond bundles the perspectives of leading scholars of European integration. By doing so, it provides a much needed scholarly guidepost for our understanding of the significance of Brexit, not only for the United Kingdom, but also for the future of the European continent.' - Catherine E. De Vries, Professor in the department of Government, University of Essex and Professor in the department of Political Science and Public Administration Free University Amsterdam 'Brexit and Beyond provides a fascinating (and comprehensive) analysis on the how and why the UK has found itself on the path to exiting the European Union. The talented cast of academic contributors is drawn from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise and this provides a breadth and depth to the analysis of Brexit that is unrivalled. The volume also provides large amounts of expert-informed speculation on the future of both the EU and UK and which is both stimulating and anxiety-inducing.' -Professor Richard Whitman, Head of School, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Director of the Global Europe Centre, University of Kent

The Left Case for Brexit

The Left Case for Brexit PDF

Author: Richard Tuck

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-04-09

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1509542299

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Liberal left orthodoxy holds that Brexit is a disastrous coup, orchestrated by the hard right and fuelled by xenophobia, which will break up the Union and turn what’s left of Britain into a neoliberal dystopia. Richard Tuck’s ongoing commentary on the Brexit crisis demolishes this narrative. He argues that by opposing Brexit and throwing its lot in with a liberal constitutional order tailor-made for the interests of global capitalists, the Left has made a major error. It has tied itself into a framework designed to frustrate its own radical policies. Brexit therefore actually represents a golden opportunity for socialists to implement the kind of economic agenda they have long since advocated. Sadly, however, many of them have lost faith in the kind of popular revolution that the majoritarian British constitution is peculiarly well-placed to deliver and have succumbed instead to defeatism and the cultural politics of virtue-signalling. Another approach is, however, still possible. Combining brilliant contemporary political insights with a profound grasp of the ironies of modern history, this book is essential for anyone who wants a clear-sighted assessment of the momentous underlying issues brought to the surface by Brexit.

Well, You Did Ask...

Well, You Did Ask... PDF

Author: Michael Ashcroft

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2016-09-01

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 178590180X

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The UK's vote to leave the European Union shocked the world - not to mention many people in Britain. What it revealed about our country is at least as significant for the future of politics as Brexit itself. Drawing on more than two years of intensive research by Lord Ashcroft Polls, Well, You Did Ask... explains how voters came to make the most momentous political decision of our time - how they saw the choice before them, what they made of the campaign, its personalities, claims and counterclaims - and why they ultimately chose to take the UK out of the EU. As the country sets about negotiating a new relationship with Europe, it also offers a colourful and revealing look at what our continental neighbours think about Britain and the British. To think clearly about what the referendum result means, we first need to understand how it came about. The answers are in this book.

How Press Propaganda Paved the Way to Brexit

How Press Propaganda Paved the Way to Brexit PDF

Author: Francis Rawlinson

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-01-21

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 3030277658

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This book traces how right-wing newspapers in Britain helped shape British public opinion about the European Union over the course of the 20 years preceding the EU referendum in June 2016. The author argues that newspapers such as the Telegraph, Mail, Sun and Express have been effectively waging a long-term propaganda war, with the distortions and borderline fake news presented one of the factors that helped secure the narrow majority for Brexit. Written by an EU insider, the book presents hard facts and debunks the core myths on EU laws, exorbitant budget contributions and uncontrolled immigration, and contributes to the broader debate on the importance of the press for democracy.

Rule Britannia

Rule Britannia PDF

Author: Danny Dorling

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1785904566

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Things fall apart when empires crumble. This time, we think, things will be different. They are not. This time, we are told, we will become great again. We will not. In this new edition of the hugely successful Rule Britannia, Danny Dorling and Sally Tomlinson argue that the vote to leave the EU was the last gasp of the old empire working its way out of the British psyche. Fuelled by a misplaced nostalgia, the result was driven by a lack of knowledge of Britain's imperial history, by a profound anxiety about Britain's status today, and by a deeply unrealistic vision of our future.

Deconstructing Brexit Discourses

Deconstructing Brexit Discourses PDF

Author: Benjamin Hawkins

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-14

Total Pages: 149

ISBN-13: 1351578979

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This book expands on and complements the burgeoning Brexit literature by placing the UK’s vote to leave the EU in its longer historical and discursive contexts. It examines the embedded Euroscepticism, which has dominated British political discourse on the European project and the role of the UK within it for at least the last three decades. Brexit was the consequence of a consistent denigration of the European integration project in the public sphere in which the terrain, and the conceptual vocabulary, of debate were set by a dominant, right-wing Eurosceptic discourse. This framed the EU as inherently heterogeneous and antagonistic to the UK. The book examines how ideas of British exceptionalism, which underpin Eurosceptic discourses, are sustained and reproduced and offers an account of their enduring, affective power amongst the British population. It is in this context that it was possible for pro-Brexit campaigners to assemble and enthuse a new coalition of voters sufficient to deliver a ‘leave’ majority on 23 June 2016. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of British, EU and European politics, the media and press, public opinion, political behaviour and nationalism studies.

How To Lose A Referendum

How To Lose A Referendum PDF

Author: Jason Farrell

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2017-06-26

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1785902601

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Did David Cameron have to call a referendum? Did history put a gun to his head? And was Britain's departure from the EU destined from the moment he called it? Was it a lost cause, or did the Prime Minister lose it? Sky News senior political correspondent Jason Farrell teams up with political blogger and economics and politics teacher Paul Goldsmith to provide the definitive story of one of the biggest shocks in British political history. Probing into the social fabric of the UK, the psyche of the electorate, and seventy years of European history, Farrell and Goldsmith identify eighteen key reasons why the UK made its choice, from Britain's absence at the birth of the European project to the inflammatory rhetoric of one Nigel Farage, and everything in between. How to Lose a Referendum is the product of extensive and refreshingly frank interviews with the key players from both campaigns coupled with a wide-ranging exploration of the historical context around Britain's departure. Why was a project designed for common peace and prosperity ultimately so hard to defend? Whether you're a Leaver or a Remainer, a newcomer to the debate or a battle-hardened politico, this nuanced and thoughtful analysis will change the way you look at Britain's vote for Brexit.