Major
Political Science
Second Major
History
Advisor
Ward, James Mace
Advisor Department
History
Date
5-2020
Keywords
Brexit; Populism; Liberal Democracy; Authoritarian
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Abstract
Over the last decade, insurgent Authoritarian-Populist parties have made considerable inroads throughout much of Europe. Up until its 2016 In/Out referendum on continued membership of the European Union, the United Kingdom (UK) was also experiencing such a surge. This paper asserts that regardless of the costs and/or benefits of leaving, “delivering” on Brexit has allowed the UK to navigate today’s resurgent nationalism and Authoritarian Populism comparatively better than its continental counterparts. The UK has been, is today, and by all indications is on track to remain a healthy liberal democracy. This is in no small part due to the collapse of far-right parties including the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), the Brexit Party, and the British National Party. By adopting Euroscepticism, the Conservative Party was successfully able to “outflank” insurgent Authoritarian-Populist parties. The scope of this paper is limited to the impact that Brexit will have on Britain’s status as a liberal democracy, the impact that parties’ actions have had on their electoral performance, and the future prospects of Authoritarian-Populist parties in Europe. This paper does not analyze the economic side of Brexit, the potential for future referendums on continued membership in the United Kingdom, nor does it analyze the potential for the United Kingdom to re-join the European Union at a future date.