Brexit: Politics, Policies and Processes
Week 5: Road to the Leave vote_renegotiations and referendum campaign
Assigned readings
- Glencross, Andrew (2018). Cameron’s European legacy: How Brexit demonstrates the flawed politics of simple solutions. In: Martill, Benjamin a Staiger, Uta (eds) Brexit and Beyond: Rethinking the Futures of Europe. London: UCL Press, pp. 22-28.
- Study questions
- What simple solutions did Cameron make?
- How come that
the referendum seemed like a low-risk option back in 2013?
- In what sense
did the Remain campaign ignore the warnings of recent EU referendum?
- Why is the
referendum temptation hard to resist?
- Smith, Julie (2018). Gambling on Europe: David Cameron and the 2016 referendum. British Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 1–16.
- Study questions
- Which factors contributed to precisely the outcome Cameron did not want (i.e. losing
- office; country looking set to the leave the EU; and the divisions within his party more apparent than ever)?
- What do you know about Cameron’s pledge to take the Conservative Members of the European Parliament out of the group of the European People’s Party? Why was it important?
- In which way(s) did Cameron lose his timing?
- Were Cameron’s EU renegotiations successful?
- The Leave campaign outstripped Remain in three key areas: message, money and media. Explain each.
