World economy

Conclusion

Brexit - as the permanent and, more or less differentiated dis-integration of the UK vis-à-vis Europe - will cement Britain’s role of an “awkward partner”, a concept that described the UK’s reluctance to be part of European integration ever since its beginning, when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973 (and voted to remain in the EEC in 1975). After some 40 years of ambiguous relations between the island nation and “the continent”, Brexit is the most obvious case of regional awkwardness in a long history of strained relations between London and Brussels. Never before has a EU member state voted to leave the club; never before has a member state obliged its partners to grapple with what complete or partial differentiation and even secession from the EU should mean for the EU’s single market, and other instances of European integration, such as the freedom of movement or its external relations. Among these policy areas, development cooperation takes an important role as an instrument of soft power,to build and maintain global networks and to secure access and influence.

On the other hand, Brexit should not be treated as an excep- tional and standalone phenomenon, isolated from the rest of the European continent. Though it is unlikely that other countries will follow suit in the near future, Brexit nevertheless expresses some fundamental tensions present within the project of ‘ever closer union’. It is something of an irony that it is precisely in its decision to exit the EU that the UK has identified itself as a European state, whose trajectory and fate have many lessons for the EU’s 27 remaining Member States.

Europe, and the EU, thus find themselves at a ‘critical juncture’ (Sus 2017, 115); one hastened, for sure, by Brexit, but also reflecting broader social, institutional and geopolitical challenges facing the continent. And yet, it is this very sense of crisis that galvanises both citizens and elites alike, and offers the possibility of meaningful reform at the European level aimed at improving the lives of European citizens. In this new and complicated political environment, carefully articulated ideas about Europe’s problems, and their potential solutions, are more relevant than ever before, since agency matters more than ever at times of crisis and upheaval. The contributions in this volume have all taken seriously the question of where Europe’s future lies after Brexit. In offering cogent analyses of crucial actors, institutions, relationships and issues, they help us to rethink the future of the European project and contribute to vital debates taking place across the continent.