Pamela
2020-02-04 12:01:23 UTC
The Atlantic has an interesting article on "Why Britain Brexited".
Starting with ...
Brexit is essentially an aberration, a decision of epic stupidity,
which, at its heart, seeks to reverse the tide of history pushing
midsize countries into multinational blocs in order to compete in a
world of superpowers.
Britain, in voting to leave the biggest and most advanced of these
blocs, has allowed an instant of nostalgic madness to rip it from its
moorings, casting it off into the exposed waters of economic isolation
at the very moment the rest of the world, led by Donald Trump, is
putting up trade barriers.
It is a story of a country that has lost control of who it is and where
it is going.
But that is only one way of looking at this moment in British history,
marking the end of one era and the beginning of the next.
----
There is another perspective, viewing Brexit as a largely conservative
act, returning to what remains, after all, the norm for most countries:
independent national sovereignty.
In this view, shared by some conservative historians, economists, and
politicians, Brexit is primarily about protection from the EU's
radicalism, viewing the bloc's push for ever-closer union-manifested
most obviously in its single currency-as the aberration of history,
turning what was once a confederation of nation-states into a federal
union.
Ending with ...
Britain may not be able to influence the EU's direction anymore, a
reality that may soon preoccupy those in power in London, but the
country's prospects remain largely in its own control - just as they
were before.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/britain-brexit-
boris-johnson-influence-control/605734/
Starting with ...
Brexit is essentially an aberration, a decision of epic stupidity,
which, at its heart, seeks to reverse the tide of history pushing
midsize countries into multinational blocs in order to compete in a
world of superpowers.
Britain, in voting to leave the biggest and most advanced of these
blocs, has allowed an instant of nostalgic madness to rip it from its
moorings, casting it off into the exposed waters of economic isolation
at the very moment the rest of the world, led by Donald Trump, is
putting up trade barriers.
It is a story of a country that has lost control of who it is and where
it is going.
But that is only one way of looking at this moment in British history,
marking the end of one era and the beginning of the next.
----
There is another perspective, viewing Brexit as a largely conservative
act, returning to what remains, after all, the norm for most countries:
independent national sovereignty.
In this view, shared by some conservative historians, economists, and
politicians, Brexit is primarily about protection from the EU's
radicalism, viewing the bloc's push for ever-closer union-manifested
most obviously in its single currency-as the aberration of history,
turning what was once a confederation of nation-states into a federal
union.
Ending with ...
Britain may not be able to influence the EU's direction anymore, a
reality that may soon preoccupy those in power in London, but the
country's prospects remain largely in its own control - just as they
were before.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/britain-brexit-
boris-johnson-influence-control/605734/