Notes on Global Britain and xenophobic nationalism

Abstract

Brexit is surely the most dramatic event in the history of European integration as well as in contemporary European Union politics. This article highlights some of its most important aspects. Firstly, it suggests how some of the Conservatives’ rhetoric on this “necessary exit” from the European Union was based on the myth that the country is a global force – Global Britain – with a global (imperial) past as well as global ambitions. Given this, the natural consequence was to leave the EU. Secondly, Brexit unambiguously concealed a form of xenophobic nationalism which favoured the populist narrative and the subsequent Eurosceptic vote. Moreover, as the article shows, the mainstream political establishment popularised anti-European xenophobia well before the Brexit referendum.