The Law & Politics of Brexit

Abstract:

The decision by the people of the United Kingdom (UK) to vote in a referendum on 23 June 2016 to leave the European Union (EU) has produced shock-waves across Europe and the world. While the Treaty on European Union explicitly allows a Member State to withdraw from the Union, no country thus far had ever decided to secede from what is arguably the most successful experiment in regional integration in history. Brexit, therefore, calls into question consolidated assumptions on the finality of the EU, and simultaneously opens new challenges — not only in the institutional fabric of Europe, but also in the UK constitutional settlement, eg in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

This book provides a first comprehensive analysis of the challenges posed by Brexit, their causes, and their consequences. By combining the contributions of lawyers, political scientists, and political economists from across Europe, the book seeks to shed light on the manifold and complicated effects that Brexit creates—in the UK, and its internal constitutional settlement, as well as in the EU, and its institutional regime. While many uncertainties still surround the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, so much is already on the table: this book thus avoids speculation and focuses instead on the many and difficult political, legal, and economic issues that Brexit exposed.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction | Federico Fabbrini
• Part 1 - Brexit: Politics, Process, and Prospects
  • The Political Mantra | Kalypso Nicolaïdis
  • The Process: Brexit and the Anatomy of Article 50 | Paul Craig
  • The Prospects: The UK Trade Regime with the EU and the World | Giorgio Sacerdoti
• Part 2 - Brexit and Constitutional Change in Regional Perspective
  • Brexit and the English Question | Stephen Tierney
  • Brexit and the Scottish Question | Sionaidh Douglas-Scott
  • Brexit and the Northern Ireland Question | John Doyle & Eileen Connolly
• Part 3 Brexit and Constitutional Change in European Perspective
  • Brexit and the EU Economic & Monetary Union | Michele Chang
  • Brexit and the EU Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice | Deirdre Curtin
  • Brexit and the EU Internal Market | Catherine Barnard
• Part 4 Beyond Brexit: Relaunching the EU?
  • Brexit and Euroskepticism | Marlene Wind
  • Brexit and EU Institutional Balance | Uwe Puetter
  • Brexit and EU Treaty Reform | Federico Fabbrini

• Primary Source