{"id":23382,"date":"2016-06-21T15:59:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T19:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/?p=23382"},"modified":"2021-02-03T17:42:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T22:42:34","slug":"pardee-school-professors-weigh-in-on-brexit-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/2016\/06\/21\/pardee-school-professors-weigh-in-on-brexit-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"Pardee School Professors on EU Referendum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EU-UK\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Professors at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University weighed in on the impending “Brexit” referendum that will determine\u00a0whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union. The outcome of the June 23, 2016 vote\u00a0will have lasting impact on issues including\u00a0sovereignty, trade and immigration in the United Kingdom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Director of the Center for the Study of Europe<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration Vivien Schmidt<\/a>\u00a0said that the issue of neo-liberalism\u00a0has been a driving force behind some of the tension between the “Leave” and “Remain” camps, but has been largely absent from public debate on the referendum.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“As the referendum campaign nears its end, one central issue is remarkable for its absence, despite the fact that it has been a major contributor to the anger that lends support to the Brexit camp:\u00a0 neo-liberalism,” Schmidt said. “The revolt against the political parties, the rejection of the experts, the distrust of the elites more generally\u2014all of this has to do with neo-liberalism\u2014as does the venting by working and middle class people against the worsening of their life chances due to stagnant wages, growing inequality, and the increasing difficulty for the young to get a foot on the real estate ladder, or a steady well-paying job.\u00a0 And yet the real cause of these concerns is never addressed.\u00a0 Instead, the EU and immigration are blamed for all of Britain\u2019s ills.\u00a0 But whether the decision on June 23 is Leave or Remain, neither Britain\u2019s problems nor citizens\u2019 dissatisfaction will go away.”<\/p>\n

Schmidt discussed the Brexit referendum further in a June 20, 2016\u00a0post on\u00a0Cambridge Blog<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>entitled “The Issue Remarkable for its Absence: The Resilience of Neo-Liberalism in Europe.<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Erik Goldstein<\/a>, Professor of International Relations and History, said during his recent travels in England said a “Leave” vote would have far-reaching effects including another referendum on Scottish independence and possibly the disintegration of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

“For the last month I have travelled in England from the capital, London, in the south to Yorkshire in the north. It is a country on a knife edge over the referendum,” Goldstein said. “The core issues have been the economy and immigration, but underlying this is the very future of the country itself.\u00a0 A vote to ‘leave’ will probably trigger another referendum on Scottish independence, and lead to the break up of the United Kingdom. This in turn will mean that America will lose its most consistent European ally. The ramifications of this vote will extend far beyond the domestic issues being debated.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaija Schilde<\/a>,\u00a0Assistant Professor of International Relations, said the regardless of the outcome of the referendum, the British government will ultimately decide what course of action to take in regard to EU membership.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I hear much of the Brexit discussion make an implicit assumption that this will be a binding act of direct democracy. It won’t. If there is a vote for Brexit, there is no automatic legal act to follow,” Schidle said. “The referendum legislation as written makes the result of the vote an advisory one, where the government can decide what to do with the result. It could ignore it, call for a new vote in parliament or use it as a negotiating mandate for further reforms. This has happened in many EU plebiscites before. There have been many ‘no’ votes–some in recent history such as the Greek “Oxi” vote in 2015. What did that change? Nothing.”<\/p>\n

Amb. Paul Webster Hare<\/a>,\u00a0Senior Lecturer at the Pardee School and\u00a0British ambassador to Cuba from 2001-04, said\u00a0the recent murder of Labour Party MP Jo Cox<\/a>,\u00a0a vocal supporter of Britain\u2019s remaining an EU member,\u00a0could influence the outcome of the referendum with mounting fears over immigration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think the vote reflects an anxiety over how far the European Union will oblige the United Kingdom to accept more immigrants than the electorate feels is appropriate,” Hare said. “The issue has divided parties and families and has eclipsed other activities and achievements of the European Union over many decades.\u00a0The murder of the MP Jo Cox may have a decisive influence with fears of xenophobia surfacing but it seems unlikely either “Remain” or “Leave” will win a decisive victory.”<\/p>\n

John D. Woodward Jr<\/a>., Professor of the Practice of International Relations, said\u00a0concerns over immigration and sovereignty loom large for most\u00a0of those planning to cast a “Leave” vote.<\/p>\n

“Many Britons, especially older ones, perceive that the UK has been inundated with EU immigrants that force up rents, lower wages, and change the British way of life,” Woodward said. \u00a0“The other key issue for many Britons is sovereignty or what they perceive is the lack thereof. \u00a0Brexit\u00a0backers essentially view the EU as anti-democratic. \u00a0They want the UK Parliament to be responsible for public sector decisions in the UK and accountable to the British people.\u00a0To Brexiteers,\u00a0the EU Commission,\u00a0the main body that proposes laws\u00a0and regulations, is an un-elected and unknown body of bureaucrats that makes rules the UK is obligated to follow\u00a0in too many areas of life.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pardee School faculty discuss the referendum that will determine whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8414],"tags":[9287,9585,1360,8714,8904,9586,8633,8539,8986,4076],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23382"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23416,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23382\/revisions\/23416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/pardeeschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}