A historic reminder, an ever-present dilemma? – Assessing Brexit’s potential consequences for European security

On 9 May 2016, in a further attempt to discourage the British public opinion from opting for their country’s abandonment of the European Union (EU) in the ‘in/out’ referendum on 23 June, Prime Minister David Cameron stated that the UK has regretted "turning its back" on Europe in the past, and that the EU had "helped reconcile" countries and maintain peace on the Old Continent.

Cameron’s powerful reference to the past British reluctance to fully engage in European security, notably but not solely during the entre-guerre period in the 1920s and 1930s, provides a politically timely and intellectually stimulating impulse to further examine the UK’s role in European security in the past few years, and the possible implications of a ‘Brexit’ in that respect.

• Primary Source

ESO: Information Guide: The EU Referendum, 23 June 2016. The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-the-eu-referendum-23-june-2016-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union-august-2017-edition/

ESO: Background information: Website: EU Referendum, 23 June 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-eu-referendum-23-june-2016/

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