Brexit and EU Legitimation

Paul Beaumont

Brexit and EU Legitimation

Číslo: 3/2019
Periodikum: New Perspectives

Klíčová slova: Brexit, European Union, democratic deficit, narratives, European

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Anotace: Drawing upon emerging trends across Europe, this essay argues that the painful learning

Britain undergoes via Brexit, looks set to become a useful lesson for the rest of the EU. Not
unlike how Europe’s bloody past once served as shorthand for justifying the EU’s existence,
should Brexit continue to humiliate Britain and result in recession, it will provide a
new and powerful symbolic resource capable of legitimating membership and making up
for the EU’s democratic deficit. As such, Britain looks set to become an unwitting martyr
for the EU cause. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom then, a no-deal Brexit may be the optimum
outcome for the EU because it would best illuminate the folly of leaving and therefore
publicly crystalize the benefits of membership.