Brexit: Is Britain Coupable?

Hyung Bok Chae Kyungpook Nat'l University Law School, 80 Daehak-ro, Bukgu, Daegu 41566 Korea.
Corresponding Author: europia@knu.ac.kr
ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
In a referendum on June 23, 2016: 51.9 percent of the British electorate voted in favor of the UK's withdrawal (Brexit) from the EU. The reasons are varied, and many were surprised by such 'unintended consequences.' However, Britain is setting a new global strategy to escape the regionalism of integrated Europe by choosing traditional 'splendid isolation.' Nonetheless, Britain could not immediately leave the EU; it must first conclude a withdrawal agreement in accordance with the procedure in Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union. In this process, strong opposition within British society will pose great challenges, accompanying numerous other barriers to overcome. Following the Supreme Court ruling on January 24, 2017, the UK government recently completed the required parliamentary approval process before initiating Brexit negotiations with the EU. This paper concludes that Britain is indeed coupable of opting to return to nationalism based on sovereignty rather than peace, coexistence, and solidarity in Europe.

Keywords : Brexit, United Kingdom, Britain, European Union, Referendum

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