Brexit bears serious consequences not just for Britain but for Europe and the broader balance of global order. Yet most discussions of Brexit have focused on the causes of the “Leave” vote and its implications for the future of British politics.

Drawing the discussion of Brexit beyond Britain, Benjamin Martill, Uta Staiger, and a team of twenty-eight contributors explore the consequences for Europe and the European Union. Marshaling the perspectives and methodologies of a diverse range of disciplines, the contributors chart the likely effects of Brexit on institutional relations, law, political economy, foreign affairs, democratic governance, and the idea of Europe itself. While the contributors at times offer divergent predictions for the future of Europe after Brexit, they share the conviction that careful analysis is in needed—now more than ever—if we are to understand what lies ahead.

Brexit and Beyond is the first book to focus on the broader consequences of Brexit, and its clear, comprehensive, and trenchant analysis will be invaluable to understanding the complex effects.
 

Whatever the eventual outcome of Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union, the critical questions remain: what does the Referendum vote tell us about British society? As with the election of Donald Trump in the United States, why did so few people in Britain see the result coming? Why was there such a fundamental misunderstanding about divisions in society that had existed for years?
In this short but powerful book, Stephen Green argues that it is time to acknowledge that underlying all the sound and fury of the Brexit debate were fundamental questions—whether or not fully recognized—about British identity. Are the British different, special, and capable of finding their own way in the world? Who are they, those who call themselves British? Is it all too easy to blame Brexit on post-industrial decline in the traditional heartlands of the Labor Party, or scaremongering by a band of deluded “Little Englanders”? Or is British identity more complex, deep-rooted—and perhaps, in some sense, troubling—than those of other European nations?