Event Highlights: How Britain Got to Brexit? 1985-2016
The Center for the Study of Europe wrapped up its month-long exploration of Brexit on Friday, October 29, with a lecture by James Cronin, Research Professor in the Department of History at Boston College. Cronin’s lecture, the fifth in the series, was titled, “How Britain Got to Brexit? 1985-2016.” In it he outlined changes in the nature of politics and of the political parties since the 1970s leading to Brexit, notably, changes in the perception of Europe signaled by Margaret Thatcher’s infamous Bruges speech in 1988, the weakening of support for the center right and the regrouping of the political left in the 1990s, and the rise of populism, among others.
Professor Cronin teaches modern British and European history. Over the past decade his research interests have involved the relationship between states and social structures, political parties, and the rise and fall of the Cold War world order. His most recent book focused on the making of “New Labour” in Britain and its implications for the evolution of social democracy in Europe. He is currently working on a study of British and American foreign policy, and the Anglo-American alliance, since the crisis of the 1970s.