Prof Kevin Featherstone CBG.5.04 and Prof Antony Travers CBG.5.28

This course is available on the BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics, BSc in Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics and History, BSc in Politics and International Relations and BSc in Politics and Philosophy. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This course examines the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union as an agenda of ongoing significance for both the UK and the EU27.  With many on-going issues under review, it is an important focus for the UK and a continuing agenda for the EU.  To reflect the complexity of BREXIT, the course examines its politics and its policy implications as an episode and in the longer term.

The course begins with consideration of how BREXIT occurred: the history of a troubled relationship; the issue of EU membership in domestic party and electoral politics; and the course of the BREXIT negotiations themselves.  BREXIT requires much adjustment in terms of governance and policies.  The course examines these across a set of major policy agendas and discusses the implications for both the UK and for the EU27.  With unresolved issues even after the UK’s final departure from transitional arrangements, the discussion highlights the continuing significance of the BREXIT agenda for London and Brussels.

Note: the lectures are to be shared with MSc students.  The seminar questions for the UG students differ from those for MSc students, taking account of the different stages of study and the intended learning outcomes.

This year, some or all of this teaching will be delivered through a combination of online and on-campus lectures and classes in the Michaelmas term. This course will hold a Reading Week in Michaelmas Term Week 6.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT.

The formative essay (1500 words), due by mid-term, will address a question relevant to the impact of BREXIT on the UK political system, drawing upon the readings and seminar discussion.

• D. Dinan et al, eds. (2017) The European Union in Crisis; London: Palgrave.
• A. Geddes (2013) Britain and the European Union; London: Palgrave.
• B. Simms (2016) Britain's Europe: A Thousand Years of Conflict and Cooperation. London: Allen Lane.
• S. Wall (2008) A Stranger in Europe: Britain and the EU from Thatcher to Blair.  Oxford: OUP.
• H. Young (1998)  This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair.  London: Macmillan.
• K. Armstrong (2017) BREXIT Time: Leaving the EU -why, how and when? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• H. Clarke, M. Goodwin and P. Whiteley (2017) BREXIT: Why Britain voted to leave the European Union.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• E. O. Eriksen and J. E. Fossum (2015) The European Union's Non-Members: independence under hegemony? London: Routledge.
• S. Hobolt (2016) 'The BREXIT vote: a divided nation, a divided continent', Journal of European Public Policy, 23, 9.   And 'Debate Section': 'British exit from the EU - legal and political implications', in the same issue.
• L. Halligan and G. Lyons (2017), Clean BREXIT: Why leaving the EU still makes sense; London: Biteback Publishing.
• The 'Generation BREXIT' website - an LSE project.

Project (90%, 3000 words) in the LT.
Essay plan (10%) in the MT.

The summative assessment for this course takes the form of:

• Individual Policy Project Plan - up to 1000 words (10%)
• Individual Policy Project - up to 3,000 words (90%)