Little Englanders or Big Britainers? TheUKandEUrole conceptions during the Brexit bill debate

Abstract

This article utilizes role theory to examine UK MPs' conceptions of the roles of the UK and the EU. Employing the House of Commons debates on the notification of withdrawal from the EU in early 2017, or the Brexit bill, this study outlines the multiple roles each actor possesses according to British parliamentarians. Organized according to the positions of whether the politicians supported leave and remain, rather than on how they voted, the findings are organized into role contestations based on three faultlines. The first is a clash between global and regional UK roles revealing identity‐based discord over the post‐Brexit vision of its international relations. The second is popular versus parliamentary invocations of national sovereignty which echo the struggle between pluralist and elite configurations of sovereignty and democracy. The last is whether the EU functions as a materialist realist‐bound power or an ideational norm‐creating power. Related Articles Cerami, Alfio. 2011. “Social Mechanisms in the Establishment of the European Economic and Monetary Union.” Politics & Policy 39(3): 345–72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2011.00294.x. Igwe, Paul Agu, Chinedu Ochinanwata, and Nnamdi O. Madichie. 2021. “The ‘Isms’ of Regional Integration: What Do Underlying Interstate Preferences Hold for the ECOWAS Union? Politics & Policy 49(2): 280–308. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12396. Pompl, Solange, and Sergiu Gherghina. 2019. “Messages and Familiar Faces: Crowdfunding in the 2017 U.K. Electoral Campaign.” Politics & Policy 47(3): 436–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12301.