Brexit and beyond: a Pandora’s Box?

Abstract

A fundamental challenge for addressing 'Brexit and Beyond' is its multi-faceted and multi-dimensional nature. This is also reflected in the multitude of analytical accounts of its causes and potential outcomes. These accounts, however, have tended to focus on voting behaviours and a number of economic scenarios in general. This special issue makes a different contribution in focusing on four lines of enquiry that can be generalised into a critical narrative of one of the most complex issues facing social sciences for over sixty years. These lines comprise: 'drivers of the economy-industry, trade and immigration'; 'Brexit's wider European context'; 'From politics to territorial governance'; and 'Post-Brexit rural and fisheries policy'. By setting this analysis in a brief historical reading of 'Europe versus Empire', the Introduction to this special issue provides a context for understanding Brexit's deeper and wider resonance.

Brexit, Europe and othering

“…When the UK joined in 1973, it was expected that it could be a leader in Europe and shape European integration to resemble the model of the Commonwealth. The moves towards increasing political integration were not in line with the vision for Europe many had in 1973 (Bailey & Budd, 2019). Particularly within the Conservative Party, this led to a gradual erosion of the pro-European narrative and the negative othering of the European project.…”

“…Few saw economic advantage in leaving' (Coleman, 2016, p. 686; see also Menon & Wager, 2020). Thus, perceived high levels of immigration appear to be a key factor in explaining the vote and migrants to the UK have emerged as a significant other in political debate (Bailey & Budd, 2019). The othering of European migrants is demonstrated by the fact that according to around three-fifths of British people, EU migrants should be treated no differently from prospective migrants from other parts of the world when it comes to immigration rules (BSA, 2019).…”

“…Rather than viewing Brexit as a mono-causal event, researchers have suggested that many variables including age, social class, postcode, educational level and political allegiance (partially) explain why UK voters voted for Brexit (Bailey & Budd, 2019). However, it is argued here that a crucial element within that explanation lies in the concept of othering and the belief that 'Europe'and European migrants to the UK in particularrepresented an 'other' which was somehow alien to the UK, its history, culture and values.…”

What about Europe? European identity and spatial imaginaries of Europe among Polish migrants during post-Brexit negotiations in Scotland

“…The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union, known hereafter as ‘Brexit’, was an unprecedented event with far-reaching and uncertain consequences for the United Kingdom and the European Union (Bailey and Budd, 2019; McEwen, 2018). In Scotland, where a majority of the electorate (62%) voted to remain in the European Union, the referendum deepened political divisions between Scotland and England (Paddison and Rae, 2017).…”

The governance capacities of Brexit from a Scottish perspective: The case of fisheries policy

“…Our approach, therefore, is to understand the applied aspects of capacities by formulating an analytical framework for making sense of multi-layered capacities in the context of Brexit. Whereas existing research has focused predominantly on the policy uncertainties and a range of more political and democratic questions (see the following Brexit special issues: Bailey and Budd, 2019; Wincott et al., 2017), this article offers an assessment surrounding the public administration and delivery aspects of Brexit. In addition, the article contributes to a growing body of marine social science research by highlighting how issues of governance and public administration, are central to the delivery of fisheries and wider marine policies.…”