The thesis deals with prerogative powers and their role in the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. It explains the meaning of the prerogative, shows how British courts employed it in Miller I and Miller II decisions, and outlines their effects on it. The first part of the thesis explains the concept of prerogative. Firstly, it analyses concept's theoretical background in early modern constitutional thought and its conceptualization in the work of John Locke. Secondly, it explains the role of royal prerogative after the Glorious Revolution, as described by William Blackstone and Albert Venn Dicey, and its current position in the constitutional system of the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it introduces a general distinction between two conceptions of prerogative powers - the political (non-legal) one and the legal one - and outlines the relationship between the British royal prerogative, law, Parliament, and courts. The second part of the thesis deals with a case study of judicial decisions pertaining to the process of withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Specifically, the Miller I case, which addressed the existence of prerogative power to notify the intent to withdraw from the European Union (under Article 50 TEU), and the Miller II case concerning the...

In June 2016, UK chose to terminate the EU membership. The negotiation period for the exit (Brexit) has started at a time the UK economy has become increasingly dependent on the service sector as the main engine of job generation and a source of export demand. The purpose of this study is to give an overview of how Brexit possibly influences the service economy within the UK. The empiric data is collected from recent journal articles exposing issues regarding the service economy fallacies reasoned for regarding distribution of goods, user-financed services and tax-financed services. Findings revealed that a termination of the EU membership has led to market consternation and dramatic drop in the British Pound Sterling, which may affect the production costs, the wages, and the international trade that may lead to the fact that the competitiveness of the UK's service economy may be weaken. Besides, the sustainability of the pension system may be negatively affected due to the decreased immigration from other EU member states. Also, there is a need to reconstruction of the security and defence policies, which on the other hand may meet obstacles to remain the cost-efficiency.

Before, after and during the Brexit referendum in the UK immigration has been one of the most popular topics, which politicians discussed in their campaigns. Some of them were supporting the immigrants from the EU, arguing that they were bringing up the economy in the country, helping out the NHS and public services, and supporting the image of the multi- cultural society in the UK. However, others were saying that immigrants were stealing jobs, making unemployment rate higher and salaries lower. Immigration is still a very sensitive topic in the British society, ever since Brexit happened. This master thesis deals with the Discourse analysis of five main British political parties and the way they talked about immigration in their pre-Brexit speeches and campaigns. The main focus of the research is on understanding, whether immigration was indeed as important during the Brexit debate and also whether some of the UK's political parties tried to form a negative image of immigrants in British society. The analysis bases on the Political Marketing theory and is done by collecting the data out of the primary sources (such as speeches, campaigns and web-sites of the parties), and using the qualitative analysis on them.

The June 2016 UK referendum on EU membership is indicative of the challenges facing the EU, in terms of an apparent lack of unity and solidarity among its component member states. The very fact of a potential ‘Brexit’, and the ramifications that it might have, call into question the concept of European identity, indicative of a sense of belonging and attachment to a community beyond the confines of the nation-state. European identity has been conceived by both European elites and academics such as Jürgen Habermas, in his vision of ‘constitutional patriotism’, as something which can be constructed and fostered, in much the same way that national identity has been in the past. Euroscepticism tends to be associated with a lack of European identity, and an emphasis on nationalism.   However, such views downplay the importance still accorded to the nation-state, and the pervasiveness of nationalism. This study argues that European identity is first and foremost a construct of national discourse, and this affects the role that it plays in fostering support for the EU. Therefore, the research examines British national discourse on Europe and the EU, asking: Does the concept of European identity play a role in the Brexit debate? It considers this in relation to affective attachment to the nation-state, examining the kind of assumptions that such attachment enables. Given its emphasis on European identity as a rhetorical construct, this study uses a method of Critical Discourse Analysis, looking at political and public discourse in the UK over a three-month period in the lead up to the ‘Brexit’ referendum.   The findings confirm the pervasiveness of nationalist assumptions used in discourse, demonstrating that they are not associated solely with Euroscepticism. Moreover, the Brexit debate indicates the rhetorical nature of European identity rooted in shared culture or values. As a result, we see strange bedfellows: support for the EU is premised with an emphasis on national allegiance and belonging, while European identity (based on cultural similarity and belonging) is used as an argument against the EU. Both sides of the debate rely to some extent on a separation of ‘Europe’ and ‘EU’. Support for the EU, then, does not necessarily require a ‘thick’ identity, or that the bonds of nationalism be completely broken down. This prompts some reflection on the potential for identification with Europe based on rational, national self-interest.

This thesis aims to examine the role that the internal politics of the UK and the EU has on their ability to act as leaders in the so-called Brexit negotiations. The study focuses in particular on issues related to the future trade relationship between the two parts. It builds on functionalist and rational institutionalist understandings of international institutions and assumes that the European commission is a supranational institution with an independent ‘actorness’. First the internal politics and the EU and the UK is examined, especially focusing on the level of agreement or disagreement between internal actors. Thereafter, different concepts of leadership developed by Arild Underdal and Oran Young is used to investigate how the level of internal cohesion affects both parts’ abilities to influence the negotiations through leadership. The study finds a high level of unity between the different EU institutions, while it finds a high level of disagreement on several issues within the British government. It is concluded that this influences the parties’ abilities to exercise effective leadership in several ways. As these negotiations at the current stage are on-going, this study does not make conclusions about the actors ability to influence the negotiation outcome. It focuses specifically on the negotiations as they took place within a limited timeframe between the 14th of February and 23rd of April 2018.

Vår studie undersöker de ekonomiska konsekvenserna av Storbritanniens utträde ur Europeiska unionen, Brexit, på Storbritanniens import- och exportportfölj samtidigt som vi kontrollerar för osäkerhet. Studien kontrollerar dessutom för växelkursförändringar mellan GBP/EUR, för att separera den specifika effekten av Brexit. Osäkerheten i Storbritannien mäts genom Economic Policy Uncertainty-indexet och växelkursförändringar erhålls via Refinitiv Eikon. Genom att samla in månatliga handelsdata för åren 2011 till 2021 samt data om osäkerhet och växelkurs, genomför vi en OLS-regression för att analysera sambandet mellan Brexit och förändringar i import- och exportportföljen. Resultaten visar att Brexit har haft en negativ påverkan på både den övergripande importen och exporten, inklusive handeln med EU, samt på importen och exporten av både viktiga och mindre viktiga varugrupper. Vi finner även att exporten till EU minskar mindre, relativt den till världen, medan importen från EU minskar mer relativt den från världen. Vidare indikerar våra resultat att både osäkerheten och växelkursförändringar GBP/EUR har en separat, negativ effekt på samtliga aspekter ovan. Slutsatsen är att Brexit har haft en negativ påverkan på Storbritanniens import- och exportportfölj. Vi anser även att osäkerheten kring Brexit har haft en negativ påverkan på handeln, till exempel fanns det inte något nytt avtalat handelsavtal mellan Storbritannien och EU respektive länder utanför EU vid utträdet, vilket kan ha resulterat i att företag upplever en högre risknivå och därför avvaktar med att handla med Storbritannien tills de vet hur det nya handelsavtalen ser ut. Studien bidrar till kunskap om förhållandet mellan osäkerhet och handel samt de specifika effekterna av Brexit på Storbritanniens import- och exportportfölj. Vi rekommenderar att framtida forskning studerar förändringarna i import- och exportportföljen på en högre aggregerad nivå baserat på handelskoden, för att mer noga kunna undersöka effekterna av Brexit på Storbritanniens handel. Det vore dessutom intressant att undersöka om Storbritanniens handel har ökat i antalet nya produkter eller ifall landet har ökat sin handel med nya handelspartners, för att studera hur den extensiva handelsmarginalen kan ha förändrats sedan Brexit. / Our study examines the economic impact of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, Brexit, on the UK's import and export portfolio while controlling for uncertainty. The study also controls for changes in the GBP/EUR exchange rate to separate the specific impact of Brexit. Uncertainty in the UK is measured through the Economic Policy Uncertainty index and exchange rate changes are obtained through the Refinitiv Eikon. By collecting monthly trade data for the years 2011 to 2021 as well as uncertainty and exchange rate data, we conduct an OLS regression to analyze the relationship between Brexit and changes in the import and export portfolio. The results show that Brexit has had a negative impact on both overall imports and exports, including trade with the EU, and on imports and exports of both major and minor commodity groups. We also find that exports to the EU decrease less, relative to the world, while imports from the EU decrease more relative to the world. Furthermore, our results indicate that both uncertainty and changes in the GBP/EUR exchange rate have a separate, negative effect on all aspects above. Our conclusion is that Brexit has had a negative impact on the UK's import and export portfolio. We also believe that the uncertainty surrounding Brexit has had a negative impact on trade. For example, there was no new agreed trade agreement between the UK and the EU or non-EU countries at the time of the referendum, which may have resulted in companies perceiving a higher level of risk and therefore waiting to trade with the UK until they know what the new trade agreement looks like. The study contributes to knowledge about the relationship between uncertainty and trade and the specific effects of Brexit on the UK's import and export portfolio. We recommend that future research studies the changes in the import and export portfolio at a higher aggregate level based on the trade code, in order to more closely examine the effects of Brexit on UK trade. It would also be interesting to investigate whether the UK's trade has increased in the number of new products or whether it has increased its trade with new trading partners, to study how the extensive trade margin may have changed since Brexit.

Yes / Polish migration to the UK post European Union enlargement has been studied extensively but limited attention has been paid to women and their gendered mobility. In this paper, I argue that it is key to turn attention to women migrants as those who are often responsible for reproductive labour and who raise future generations of workers and citizens. This is pivotal to consider in light of ageing European societies and the need for workers and Brexit. Arguably, precarity is characteristic of contemporary life. This applies to the post-Brexit-vote UK and the uncertainty linked to the future after 2019. Precarity is inevitably characteristic of many migrants’ lives often punctuated by a lack of job security which is linked to limited material and psychological well-being. For women migrants, this state of affairs is further compounded by their attachment to the private sphere which often constitutes a barrier to their engagement in the paid labour market on the same footing as men. This paper draws on qualitative primary data gathered from 32 Polish women migrants who were initially interviewed in 2012/2013 and subsequently some of them were re-interviewed in 2016/2017. / The University of Salford, the Jagiellonian Polish Research Centre in London and the Fran Trust.

The objective of this work is to evaluate the consequences of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in the field of Private International Law, with a focus on the enforcement of civil judgments between the UK and the EU after “Brexit”. The theme is part of a broader debate, which has involved the European Institutions, the British Government and the European academia and has been focused on the identification of the relevant rules on international jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of civil judgments in Europe, after the discontinuation of the Acquis Communautaire and the Brussels Ibis Regulation. On the assumption of the uncertainty surrounding the issue and the unfortunate outcome of a “no-deal Brexit”, the discussion is first articulated over the framing of the historical and political context within which the will to withdraw has been formed and expressed and over the analysis of the different reconstructive hypotheses that have been put forward since the 2016 British vote, in order to highlight the problematic aspects and the juridical limits that prevent the usability of each. Then, on the premise that reference should be made to the national rules of Private International Law and, more specifically, to the common law, if we consider the English legal system, the reflection unfolds in a dialectical reconstruction of the legislation in question in light of the principles that govern the Brussels regime, with the aim of emphasizing the consequences of Brexit in terms of more complex procedural fulfillments and increased time and costs that will aggravate creditors whose claims require compulsory satisfaction in the United Kingdom. More generally, the comparison between the avant-garde project implemented by the European Institutions with the Recast Brussels Regulation and the outdated principles governing the matter of English conflict of laws allows a critical evaluation of the epistemological and cultural value of the British withdrawal from the European Union, since in the claims of autonomy and renewed sovereignty of the United Kingdom we must recognize the prelude of a new dialectical interaction between common law and civil law. In this respect, the challenge for scholars cannot be limited to a mere consideration of the technicalities of the new regime for the enforcement of European civil judgments in the UK after Brexit, but is enriched by an essential comparative approach that the transnational dimension of legal protection demands to be accomplished.

Yes

Europe and North America are currently witnessing dramatic shifts in the existing balance of power. Whether the AfD and Pegida in Germany, UKIP in Britain, the French Front National, the FPÖ in Austria, the Dutch Party for Freedom, Fidesz and Law and Justice, which have already come to power in Hungary and Poland respectively, Donald Trump in the US, and similar parties and movements in Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and elsewhere – while these groups and developments are by no means identical, it is nevertheless obvious that in many places today, national-conservative forces are on the rise and ever more forcefully – and successfully – making a bid for power (the most recent and, perhaps, most shocking instances of this success being the Brexit in June of last year and the election of Donald Trump as president of the US in November). The essays collected in this issue tackle these and other issues connected with the rise of the new right. They address topics such as populism and ‘affective politics’, neoliberalism, political rhetoric, the Brexit, Donald Trump, gender and sexuality, ‘race’ and class, the realm of culture, as well as the role of the left, of Cultural Studies and of the university more generally. In line with Hall’s conception of intellectual work, our issue is intended not just, or even primarily, as an academic publication, but also as a political intervention. Thus, I am hopeful that it will make a contribution, even if only a small one, to the task of finding ways to understand and adequately respond to the challenge presented by the new right.