Brexit dilemmas: New opportunities and tough choices in unsettled times

Abstract

Concluding the British Journal of Politics and International Relations’ (BJPIR) Brexit Special Issue, this article seeks to set the unsettled times and unexpected events associated with the Brexit in historic context and tease out the prospects for a ‘bespoke’ UK exit agreement. Drawing on classics of social science history—by Barrington Moore, Gourevitch and Davis—it reflects on ‘suppressed historic choices’ and historical periodisations. Three key dilemmas are interrogated: the Brexit dilemma (control of immigration/regaining of sovereignty vs European Union (EU) market access), the Brexiteers’ dilemma (sustaining economic prosperity while restricting immigration) and the Remainers/soft Brexit dilemma (of weakening Parliamentary democracy by staying in the Single Market).

Keywords

Brexit dilemmas historic change periodisation UK

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