Andrew Glencross

Why a British referendum on EU membership will not solve the Europe Question

This article scrutinizes the merits of holding a referendum over UK membership of the EU. It queries the assumption that direct democracy can somehow resolve the longstanding Europe question in British politics. To do this, the analysis traces the existence of an exceptionalist approach to the EU within Britain, now associated with re-negotiating UK membership in the shadow of a referendum. The article argues that the prospects for a radical reconfiguration of the UKs treaty obligations are slim, thereby increasing the risk of a vote to withdraw. Yet withdrawal would be the opposite of a simple solution to the Europe question. Political and economic interests dictate lengthy politicking over a highly complex post-Brexit settlement revisiting free movement of goods, services, capital and people. Such negotiations undermine any mooted cathartic benefits of a popular vote, while Eurosceptics will remain dissatisfied in the event of a yes, a result likely to further destabilize the Conservative Party. Consequently, the simplicity and decisiveness that a referendum—particularly one that spurns the EU—promises is merely a mirage as relations with the EU necessarily form part of an enduring British political conversation.

The European Council and the Legitimacy Paradox of New Intergovernmentalism: Constitutional Agency Meets Politicisation

Abstract This paper examines the actions of the European Council during the Eurozone crisis through the lens of political constitutionalism. This analysis examines the role of political inputs in shaping the EU constitutional developments, whether supranational or intergovernmental, to demonstrate the ‘legitimacy paradox’ of new intergovernmentalism. That is, the European Council claimed the electoral legitimacy to rescue the euro, but in doing so opened up new avenues for contesting EU legitimacy, notably in relation to national budgetary decision-making. For unlike with supranational constitutional agency, the European Council has the means to politicise its actions. However, the strategy taken during the sovereign debt crisis is shown to be one of depoliticisation to prevent the domestic contestation of EMU reform. At the same time, paradoxically, the politics of macroeconomic policy has become Europeanised with the active participation of EU supranational actors. Since EMU reform is dependent on supranational enforcement of EMU rules, the new intergovernmentalism faces political contestation that previous, supranational EU constitutional development did not.

The Contradictory Political Philosophy of Brexit

Brexit rests on a profound contradiction, argues Andrew Glencross. Voters rejected government advice to stay in the European Union, but rely on the same parliamentary majority to craft a better alternative. A general election – or second referendum – is likely before the UK leaves the EU.

Bleak Prospects? Varieties of Europessimism and their Application to the Eurozone Debt Crisis and the Future of Integration

ABSTRACT This article argues that pessimistic analyses of integration constitute a distinct category of critique separate from euro-scepticism or the democratic deficit literature. Drawing on an interdisciplinary analysis of law, political science, and international relations theory, three strands of europessimism are identified: realist, federalist, and social-democratic. The analysis of these varieties examines how the grounds for europessimism differ and how these can be applied to understand the causes and consequences of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. This application reveals how europessimism finds its vindication whilst also exposing evolution in how pessimistic each analytical tradition is. Indeed, whereas realism has never been optimistic about integration the article shows how federalism and social democracy are associated with optimistic or transformative visions of integration. Yet, the analysis concludes by showing the increasing pessimism of the social democratic tradition alongside the enduring optimism of federalism. By extension, the conceptual analysis of europessimism promises to have applications for the study of other research questions in European integration.

From 'Doing History' to Thinking Historically: Historical Consciousness across History and International Relations

Although most attempts to foster interdisciplinary dialogue are located outside mainstream International Relations (IR), this article seeks to problematize how the two dominant paradigms of IR theory, realism and liberalism, think historically. The argument proceeds by examining how the disciplines consider what historical knowledge is useful for, that is, how they think historically or are historically conscious. This constitutes a shift away from the dominant dialogue over how to ‘do history’ in IR. Historical consciousness is defined as the understanding of the temporality of historical experience or how past, present and future are thought to be connected. The analysis is set up to explore the extent to which both disciplines share a similar historical consciousness beyond merely treating history as instructive. To do so the article first examines the canon of European historiography to identify three genres of historical consciousness: history as teacher, history as narrative, history as representation. This survey of pre-positivist historiography serves to show the complexity of historical reflection within that discipline, something against which variance within IR theory can also be compared. Disciplinary comparison reveals that three genres of historical consciousness are present in liberalism and realism: lessons of history, revenge of history, and among progressive realists a speculative escape from history genre. Whereas lessons of history spans both ‘isms’ in IR, realism is shown to have a more complex understanding of temporality, thereby providing another conceptual starting point for distinguishing between these two ‘traditions’. Moreover, these differences between genres of historical consciousness used within realism capture the split between realists that lies not in the origin of anarchy itself but in how realists think historically. What emerges, therefore, by comparing how disciplines think historically rather than ‘do’ History, is the equally purposive or even political use of the historical knowledge they produce.

The Unfinished Business of Brexit

This chapter examines the policy implications of Brexit. The UK faces the conundrum of whether to participate in the single market from outside the EU and how to continue as a single state. Because Scots did not vote to leave the EU, the Scottish government interprets the referendum as a mandate to pursue ways of retaining the benefits of EU membership. Yet reconfiguring relations with the EU is riddled with contradictions between motivation and outcome as something must give in the tug of war between single market participation and free movement of people. A similar dilemma is present in the Scottish nationalist project of quitting the UK, as resolving the outstanding currency question will create new dependencies.

Looking Back to Look Forward: 40 Years of Referendum Debate in Britain

Calls for a referendum on European Union membership have dominated UK politics in recent years. Andrew Glencross looks back at the only previous vote on Britains relationship with Europe, in 1975, and finds plenty of similarities with the present day, and some stark differences, too.