On the Outside Looking in: The United Kingdom After Brexit

Abstract

During nearly 50 years of the United Kingdom’s (UK) membership in the European Union (EU), there were various cross-currents to British debate on EU enlargement. The British Foreign Office wished to promote enlargement for Eastern and Central Europe as a way of securing the prosperity and democracy of which it had been deprived during the Cold War. The British political class more broadly wished to promote enlargement in the hope that the Union’s geographic widening would impede its political deepening. British public opinion for its part was either indifferent or apprehensive about the Union’s enlargement. Even after Brexit, traces of these conflicting attitudes surface in the (albeit very limited) continuing political discussion within the UK on this issue.