The Politics of Brexit

Glyn Morgan

dgmorgan@syr.edu

Syllabus

The aim of this class is to use the lens of Brexit to explore (i) the nature of British society and its politics; and (ii) the place of a post-Brexit UK in Europe and the World.  Among the questions we will examine: (i) Is Brexit a unique phenomenon or part of a global turn towards populist nationalism? (ii) What does Brexit tell us about the social and political cleavages in the UK? (iii) What does Brexit tell us about the strengths and weaknesses of the EU? (iv) Is a post-Brexit UK likely to move closer to the United States or will it remain in the European trade regime?

Required Texts:

            Ben Martill and Ulrike Steiger eds.  Brexit and Beyond (2018) 

The other readings can be accessed either directly from the links on the Syllabus or via Blackboard

Class Assignments

There are three class assignments, each worth 33.3% of the grade

1.      “Blog Post” Writing Assignment Select one of the topics covered in this class and write a blog post. The blog should be around 750 words and designed for a general audience (think in terms of your parents or your roommate) –for guidance take a look at VOX, the LSE blog, or the Monkey Cage. The blog can either be “an explain piece” (here is a common error that I will clarify)  or “an opinion-piece” (here is what I think on this topic and these are the reasons why any reasonable person should agree with me). Your blog should contain hyperlinks that support controversial claims, evidentiary support, and links to further useful literature.  Ideally, your blog will have a headline, an introductory photo, and even a couple of tables or graphs.

2.      Video Presentation/Webcast with Ten Slide Powerpoint.

You must deliver a 5 minute talk that includes a 5 slide Powerpoint on one of the topics covered in the class.  Unlike the Blog, this should be a talk for an informed audience (your fellow classmates, for example). Make the talk interesting. Tell them something they didn’t know or might not have thought about.  Submit the slides and a video file of your talk. You can film yourself using a cellphone or your computer (using Skype or something similar). You will be graded on content, presentation, and the accessibility of the video you deliver. (You can work on this assignment either as an individual or in groups of up to three students. All students in the group will receive the same grade.)

3.       Five Page Report

Your client, a US multinational, is thinking of making a large investment in the UK. They commission a report on the political stability of the UK and Europe over the next 10 years. They want to know (i) what is the single biggest threat to their investment; and (ii) what is the biggest upside to a UK investment.  Your report should have a one page Executive Summary containing at least five but no more than ten bulletin points.  The CEO of the company is known to like graphs, graphics, and numbers.)

 READINGS

1.     BREXIT: Introduction

Glyn Morgan, “The Forever Brexit,”

John Lanchester, ‘Brexit Blues,’ LRB, 38: 15 (2016).

Mathew d'Ancona, (2016) “Brexit: How a Fringe Idea Took Hold of the Tory Party,” Guardian June 15 2016.

Ivan Rogers (2017), The History and Origins of Brexit

Ivan Rogers (2017), “The Inside Story of How David Cameron drove Britain to Brexit,”

Anthony Evans Pritchard, “Brexit is About the Supremacy of Parliament and Nothing Else,”

Dani Rodrik, “Brexit and the Globalization Trilemma”

2.      Who Voted for Brexit and Why?

Pippa Norris, “Generation Wars Over Brexit and beyond—how young and old are divided over social values” LSE BLOG

Tak Wing Chan et al, “Understanding the Social and Cultural Bases of Brexit”  

Documentaries:

“Out and Proud: Where Brexit Leaves Us Now,” (Sky News) July 2016

Brexit—The Battle for Britain (BBC News) July 2016

3.       Brexit and Populism in Comparative Perspective

Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin, National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy

4.      Britain’s Uneasy Relationship with Europe and the United States

5.      Derek Leebaert, Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-1957*

Hugo Young, This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair*

Glyn Morgan, “Is the EU a Crap 1950s Idea?” in B. Martill and U. Steiger eds.  Brexit and Beyond (2018) 

Documentaries:

“The Poisoned Chalice”

“Them or Us”

6.      Britain’s Longing for Empire and Nostalgia for the War

Catherine Hall, ‘Introduction: thinking the postcolonial, thinking the empire,’ in Catherine Hall (ed), Cultures of Empire (2000).

Antoinette Burton, ‘Who Needs the Nation: interrogating ‘British’ history,’ in Catherine Hall (ed), Cultures of Empire (2000).

Seumas Milne, ‘Britain: imperial nostalgia,’ Le Monde Diplomatique, May, 2005, http://mondediplo.com/2005/05/02empire

            Anthony Barnett, The Lure of Greatness

Sonya Rose, “Sex, citizenship, and the nation in World War II Britain,” American Historical Review, 103 (1998)

Movie: My Beautiful Laundrette (Director: Stephen Frears)

7.      Did Austerity Cause Brexit?

Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea*

Paul Krugman, “Can the Euro be Saved?” New York Times 2011

Martin Feldstein, “EMU and International Conflict” (1997)

Nicholas Crafts, “Brexit: Blame it on the banking Crisis” . 

Martin Sandbu, Europe’s Orphan*

Adam Tooze, Crashed*

  [* = selections]

8.      Did Immigration Cause Brexit?

Der Spiegel (online), “Asylum and Migration” http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/asylum_and_migration/

Eric Kaufman, “Good Fences make Good Neighbours”*

David Goodhardt, The Road to Somewhere Chapters, 4, 5, and 9.*

Dawn Holland, “Labour Mobility Within the EU: The Impact of Enlargement.”

Reiner Klingholz, Europe’s Real Demographic Challenge

Dustmann C and T Frattini (2014), “The fiscal effects of immigration to the UK”, Economic Journal 124 (580)

9.      The Disunited Kingdom and the Multicultural Nation

Tom Nairn, The Break-Up of Britain

Newsweek, “Has Multiculturalism Failed,”

Tariq Modood, Multiculturalism

Tariq Modood, “Multiculturalism can foster a new kind of post-brexit englishness”

Roger Iwan Scully, “Brexit and Wales”

10.  The UK’s Post-Brexit Future

Glyn Morgan, “Brexit, Trump and the Future of Europe”

Jeff Goldberg, “We’re America, Bitch” The Atlantic (June 2018)      

            Jed Purdy, “The Anti-Democratic Worldview of Steve Bannon and Peter Thiel”

Breugel, Europe in a New World Order

Faisal Islam, Why the Car Industry is Braced For a Brexit Bumpy Ride

Samuel Marc Lowe, “What Chlorinated Chicken Tells Us About Brexit”

Ivan Rogers, (2018), “The Real Post-Brexit Options”