Drawing from a rich corpus of British cultural production and postcolonial theory, this book positions Brexit in the historical nexus of colonialism, colonial nostalgia, and the rise of narcissistic nationalism in contemporary Europe. This collection moves away from existing literary discourses framing Brexit as a 'novel' event that ushered in a new genre of British fiction. It challenges the hackneyed public discourses that depict the results of the 2016 Referendum as the catalyst of regional instability as well as sociopolitical emergency in Europe. This book traces and critiques populist myth-making in the current United Kingdom through engagement with a wide range of literary and cultural productions, and reminds readers of the proleptic potential of postcolonial theorists and authors – Paul Gilroy, Austin Clarke, Mohsin Hamid, Ali Smith, to name a few – in identifying the residual ideologies of imperialism in the lead up to and after the Brexit campaign. The articles featured here extend Brexit’s figurative geography towards India, Britain, Pakistan, Ireland, Palestine, Barbados, and Eastern Europe, amongst others. They engage with films, media representations, and public discourses alongside more traditional genres such as the novel and stage productions. With a diversified approach to scholarly fields such as postcolonial literary and cultural studies, the book offers new insights into Brexit’s diverse histories not only in academic discourses, but also in the socio-political public sphere at large. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

Bringing together leading experts from across the UK and Europe, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of Brexit on the energy sector in the UK and in the European Union and its Member States. In recent decades, the trend within the EU has been towards greater integration and liberalisation of energy markets. Through the development of the Union’s internal energy market and the funding of cross-border energy infrastructure, EU membership facilitates cross-border trade in energy, promotes security of energy supply, and, via the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), allows EU Member States to trade in nuclear material for energy production. Brexit changes all of this. The significant level of integration and interdependence in EU energy policy means that the UK’s departure from the Union poses many challenges for the UK, the EU, and EU Member States. While certain energy-related arrangements have been addressed, the relationship between the UK and EU in the energy sector has been changed fundamentally. In this context, important and interrelated questions arise, such as the following: Under what terms will energy trading between the EU and UK now take place? What access will the UK have to EU energy markets? What does Brexit mean for the security of energy supply? What does the UK’s departure from Euratom mean for nuclear research? Can the crossborder single energy market (SEM) on the island of Ireland continue following Brexit? What implications does Brexit have for renewables, the environment, and climate change? Brexit comes at a time when the European energy sector is undergoing the processes of decarbonisation and energy transition. This book offers researchers, legal practitioners, and policy advisers in-depth understanding of the interplay between these challenges and Brexit.

Brexit is a political, economic and administrative event: and it is a cultural one, too. In Brexit and Literature, Robert Eaglestone brings together a diverse range of literary scholars, writers and poets to respond to this aspect of Brexit. The discipline of ‘English’, as the very name suggests, is concerned with cultural and national identity: literary studies has always addressed ideas of nationalism and the wider political process. With the ramifications of Brexit expected to last for decades to come, Brexit and Literature offers the first academic study of its impact on and through the humanities. Including a preface from Baroness Young of Hornsey, Brexit and Literature is a bold and unapologetic volume, focusing on the immediate effects of the divisive referendum while meditating on its long-term impact.

…There have been many battles of England, since Roman Empire of Julius Caesar and Augustus, since Vikings invaders or Normand’s conquerors of Wilhelm’s, then attacking from Spanish Armada in 1598 during the reign of the Queen Elisabeth the First, or French Army of Napoleonic times in the beginning of the 19th century, or German Luftwaffe and V-rockets of Hitler Third Reich during the World War II… Now, in the beginning of the twenty first century of the third Millennium, it is time for another battle of England, regarding an In / Out Referendum to the European Union, through which the British people can decide through direct vote its destiny in relation with the Old Continent, specifically, the European Union… Brexitologist

After Brexit brings together Gamble’s most influential writings on British politics and political economy from the last 40 years, reflecting on issues that animate British politics, from the decline of the economy and reshaping the welfare state to the transformation of political parties and devolution to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The book is set in the modern background of United Kingdom locations and time frames, including prominent figures in the political and criminal world, where the distinction at Westminster between public service and personal gain is very grey. Anglo-Saxon governments are probably the most successful war machine and criminal enterprise in modern human history, and they are selfish in the extreme. This is evidenced by the fact that in the year 2016, 1 per cent of the world’s population owns 99 per cent of its wealth, and although in resource-rich parts of the world the rich may be ethnic, many of the rich 1 per cent are of Anglo-Saxon descent. Yet the working classes remain decent, family-orientated subjects loyal to this ruthless hierarchal class system. This exciting, fascinating political thriller is fictitious, and persons in this work are merely background features; the author uses gypsies as a metaphor for all displaced peoples. It explores many fascinating truths and facts suppressed and falsified by church and state. Any resemblances to literal events or actions by people, living or dead, are entirely fictitious, but the story certainly has a ring of truth to those who can perceive double dealing through the fog of clever national and international propaganda.

Combining corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, and a discourse analysis of narratives, this book considers one aspect of the Brexit process: the language that journalists, politicians and individuals used to write and talk about what it means to be British and European around the time of Brexit. It reveals a trajectory towards a discourse of national division in Brexit Britain in three datasets: pro-Brexit newspaper articles, UK Government documents, and interviews with individual citizens. Demonstrating the important role that (supra-)national identity discourses played in discussions about Brexit, the book traces a shift towards a representation of Brexit Britain as divided and in decline at a time when the construction of a collective identity is likely to be paramount. The emerging representation is a direct contradiction of the great global trading nation narrative that the Vote Leave campaigners – and later the UK Government – promised, questioning the discursive success of the Global Britain project. Constructing Brexit Britain demonstrates that the transition from pre- to post-Brexit Britain was a crucial period of destabilisation for institutional and lay national identity narratives. It also illustrates that the coming years are likely to be just as important, as the UK forges its post-Brexit place in the world amid declining levels of trust in politicians, calls for a second Scottish membership referendum, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a cost of living crisis.

This book analyses Brexit in the larger context of the crisis in liberal democracies and the continuing rise of 'nationalism'. With electoral verdicts favouring right-wing populists across the world, the volume argues that Brexit has become a key event in understanding global political currents, as well as emerging as a watershed moment in the current political climate. The author focuses on the underlying currents that shaped the Brexit vote and delineates the various strands of arguments that inform the current political climate. The volume also locates the deepening divide within the discourse and understanding of democracy, as well the abysmally low level of rhetoric informing the debates around it. Further, it links this up with other ‘nationalist’ waves across the world, including South Asia. A nuanced reading of a key event, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, especially political theory, political sociology and history.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the theological challenge presented by the new post-Brexit epoch. The referendum vote for Britain to leave the European Union has led to a seismic shift in the ways in which parts of the British population view and judge their compatriots. The subsequent rise in the reported number of racially motivated incidents and the climate of vilification and negativity directed at anyone not viewed as ‘authentically’ British should be a matter of concern for all people. The book is comprised of a series of essays that address varying aspects of what it means to be British and the ways in which churches in Britain and the Christian faith could and should respond to a rising tide of White English nationalism. It is a provocative challenge to the all too often tolerated xenophobia, as well as the paucity of response from many church leaders in the UK. This critique is offered via the means of a prophetic, postcolonial model of Black theology that challenges the incipient sense of White entitlement and parochial ‘nativism’ that pervaded much of the referendum debate. The essays in this book challenge the church and wider society to ensure justice and equity for all, not just a privileged sense of entitlement for some. It will be of keen interest to any scholar of Black, political and liberation theology as well as those involved in cultural studies from a postcolonial perspective.