EVS465/EVSn5065 Brexit: Politics, Policies and Processes
Course instructor: Mgr. Monika Brusenbauch Meislová, Ph.D.
Email: brusenbauch.meislova@mail.muni.cz
Well get through all of this together, my dearest Brexit class! Hang in there!
Please know that I am here to support you as much as I can. Take good care of yourself
and your loved ones first. This should be your priority. Not our Brexit module.
Whatever happens, we will work it out.
Brief characteristics of the course
• academic year 2019/2020, spring semester
• 5 credits, exam
Course overview
The course focuses on one of the most important and controversial topics in modern British
politics – Brexit. Having placed Brexit in the appropriate historical context, the module helps
students understand the United Kingdom’s (UK) uneasy engagement and entanglement with
the European Union (EU). It sets out the key fundamentals for understanding the issues, events
and development, both short-term and long-term, that led to the 2016 in/out referendum (and
its result), the political turmoil that has resulted from it and the crisis that the UK currently
faces. In doing so, the module helps students understand some of the historical, political, legal,
cultural and socio-economic dynamics of Brexit, whilst inter alia examining key debates over
immigration, economy and sovereignty, explaining the changing media landscape and
scrutinising various exit strategies. As such, the course will appeal to those who want to make
sense of the complexities of Brexit as well as to those who seek to discuss the Brexit process
and related debates as they evolve.
The aim of the course is to offer students a chance to understand some of the historical, political,
legal, cultural and socio-economic dynamics of Brexit. It also aims at providing students with
a critical understanding of the key issues underlying the Brexit process and its dynamic (and
uncertain) agenda. At the same time, it seeks to place Brexit in the appropriate historical context
and locate the key Brexit-related issues within the relevant theoretical and conceptual debates.
Learning outcomes
Having successfully completed this course, you will be able to:
• place Brexit in its appropriate historical context;
• describe key short- and long-term factors and issues behind the UK’s vote to leave the
EU;
• demonstrate an understanding of wider political, economic and socio-cultural dynamics
surrounding Brexit;
• identify and describe current trends in negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the
EU;
• have a deeper insight into complex and wide-ranging consequences of Brexit;
• get a better understanding of how to study Brexit – an area that touches on a myriad of
other issues and is in state of constant flux;
• show an ability to place the key Brexit-related issues within the relevant theoretical and
conceptual debates.
Teaching methods
Classes comprise lectures (first 50 minutes) and seminars (second 50 minutes), with the
seminars thematically related to the lectures. Apart from traditional teaching methods, also
various activating teaching methods (such as, for instance, discussions, heuristic or situational
methods and didactic games) will be regularly included. Moreover, the module will also
incorporate specialist guest lectures delivered by external experts (from the British Embassy in
Prague, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic but also others) with extensive
experience in dealing with Brexit. Students will benefit greatly from being exposed to additional
perspectives that these experts will provide.
Students are always encouraged to ask questions at any time. Student contributions to
discussion and presentation sections are valuable for the class.
Requirements for successful completion of the course
• Position Paper “Post-Brexit UK-EU talks: charting the main challenges ahead”
o Students will write a position paper (6 pages long; 1,800 characters per page, i.e.
10,800 characters in total including the bibliography) on post-Brexit UK-EU talks.
What, in your view, will be the biggest challenge when it comes to negotiating postBrexit
EU-UK relations from the perspective of
1) your national government (or in case, you are a UK citizen, any EU27
national government)
2) the European Commission
3) the UK government?
o Please, choose only ONE out of the three actors (i.e. either a national government, the
European Commission, or the UK government) and write your position paper with the
clear focus on it. Outline the central challenges, choices and opportunities that it implies
for that actor and include also a recommendation section at the end which will provide
policy recommendations for the country.
o The deadline for the submission of the paper is currently 31 May 2020
o The paper must be properly referenced, with a bibliography at the very end. It will be
based on relevant sources that the students will find themselves.
o Students will submit the position paper to the appropriate homework vault
(odevzdávárna).
• Keeping track with current Brexit-related news and events. Students are required to
keep up with current Brexit-related news events which can be done by regularly reading
quality newspapers, news magazine, or watching broadcast news. Each week (except for
the week during which the expert lectures will be held), students will prepare a brief report
on three Brexit-related news.
o These reports will be submitted the day before the lecture (i.e. on Monday 8 pm) to
the appropriate homework vault (odevzdávárna) in IS. No late submissions will be
accepted.
o The scope of the report roughly one paragraph per a news story.
o Reports will not be copied from the website/source but will be written in students’
own words and will include a list of sources.
o One report is worth a maximum of 1 point. In total, students can earn as many as 10
points for reports. The report can be submitted (and rewarded a point) even if the
student is absent from the seminar.
o Students will bring the reports also the class.
• Active engagement in seminar discussion which are based on the study of the assigned
readings, and the monitoring of current news in Brexit. Students are expected to complete
course readings before the class. Thorough preparation is particularly important because the
class discussions will be designed to extend and critique (as opposed to summarize) the
ideas in the readings. Students are therefore encouraged to bring individual copies (in their
PCs, for instance) of the required texts to all class sessions.
• Passing a final written test. The test is worth a maximum of 30 points. The final exam will
be done online. The test will consist of 3 essay-based questions (each answer one page
maximum – i.e. 1,800 characters per one answer). You will have 28 hours to submit your
answers into Odevzdávárna. The exam dates will be preliminarily 19 May, 2 June, 16 June
and 30 June
Requirements for successful completion of the course are distributed as follows:
• Position paper: max. 10 points
• Current news reports/questions for expert lectures: max. 12 points
• Final written exam: max. 30 points.
Students must meet an overall minimum of 60 % of the points to successfully complete the course.
Course content
❖ Please note that there will be several guest lecturers in the class (for instance, by
people from the British embassy in Prague or the Office of the Government of the
Czech Republic). Their exact dates will be announced in due course.
❖ Please have all the readings listed below in the course schedule read before the day of
discussion.
❖ If you want to find something or are keen to explore a topic, please ping me an email,
give me a call or drop by and I’ll help!
Week 1 (18. 2. 2020) Introduction
The first week serves as an introduction to the course and topic, but especially an introduction
to each other. We’ll cover the syllabus and a basic introduction to the course.
Week 2 (25. 2. 2020) Understanding the background to Brexit: History of UK-EU
relations I
Assigned readings
• Geddes, Andrew (2004). The European Union and British Politics. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 57-73.
• Usherwood, Simon (2018). The Third Era of British Euroscepticism: Brexit as a
Paradigm Shift. The Political Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 4, pp. 553-559.
• Daddow, Oliver a Oliver, Tim (2016). A not so awkward partner: the UK has been a
champion of many causes in the EU. LSE Blog, 15 April.
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2016/04/15/a-not-so-awkward-partner-the-uk-has-been-a-
champion-of-many-causes-in-the-eu/
Week 3 (3. 3. 2020) NO CLASS; reading week. Understanding the background to
Brexit: History of UK-EU relations II
Assigned readings
• Todd, John (2016). The UK’s Relationship with Europe: Struggling over Sovereignty.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 31-55.
• Smith, Julie (2016). David Cameron’s EU renegotiation and referendum pledge: A
case of déjà vu? British Politics, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 324-346.
Week 4 (10. 3. 2020) NO CLASS. Analysing the referendum result
Please note that there will be no class this week. Instead, Students will listen to the lecture in
the podcast and will read the assigned readings.
Assigned readings
• Mckenzie, L. (2017). ‘It’s not ideal’: Reconsidering ‘anger’ and ‘apathy’ in the Brexit
vote among an invisible working class. Competition and Change, Vol. 21, No. 3, pp.
199-210.
• Goodwin, Matthew and Milazzo, Caitlin (2017). Taking back control? Investigating the
role of immigration in the 2016 vote for Brexit. The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 450–464.
Week 5 (17. 3. 2020) Road to the Leave vote: Renegotiations
Assigned readings
• Glencross, Andrew (2018). Cameron’s European legacy: How Brexit demonstrates the
flawed politics of simple solutions. In: Martill, Benjamin a Staiger, Uta (eds) Brexit
and Beyond: Rethinking the Futures of Europe. London: UCL Press, pp. 22-28.
• Smith, Julie (2018). Gambling on Europe: David Cameron and the 2016 referendum.
British Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 1–16.
Week 6 (24. 3. 2020) Referendum campaign
Assigned readings
• Glencross, Andrew (2016). The EU Referendum Campaign. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, pp. 35-46.
Week 7 (31. 3. 2020) Dynamics of Brexit negotiations
Assigned readings
• Hix, S. (2018). Brexit: Where is the EU-UK Relationship Heading? JCMS: Journal of
Common Market Studies.
• Allen, N. (2018). “Brexit means Brexit”: Theresa May and post-referendum British
politics. British Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 105–120.
Week 8 (7. 4. 2020) Brexit and Party Politics
Assigned readings
• Lynch, P., & Whitaker, R. (2018). All Brexiteers now? Brexit, the Conservatives and
party change. British Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 31–47.
• Baldini, G., Bressanelli, E., & Massetti, E. (2018). Who is in Control? Brexit and the
Westminster Model. The Political Quarterly.
Week 9 (14. 4. 2020) EU’s unity in Brexit: Brexit and EU institutions
Assigned readings
• Chopin, Thierry and Lequesne, Christian (2020) Disintegration reversed: Brexit and
the cohesiveness of the EU27. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, online first.
Week 10 (21. 4. 2020) EU27’s Brexit: perspectives on Brexit of EU27. Guest lecture by
Dr Natasza Styczyńska
Assigned readings
• Brusenbauch Meislová, Monika (2019). Full of surprises, or surprisingly not? The
peculiar case of Czech Brexit policy. European Politics and Society, Vol. 21, No. 1,
pp. 91-117.
Week 11 (28. 4. 2020) Brexit and European integration theory.
Assigned readings
• Jensen, Mads and Jesper Dahl Kelstrup (2019), House United, House Divided:
Explaining the EU’s Unity in the Brexit Negotiations. Journal of Common Market
Studies, Vol. 57, p. 28-39.
Week 12 (5. 5. 2020) Brexit implications for the UK and the EU
Assigned readings
• Cini, Michelle a Verdun, Amy (2018). The implications of Brexit for the future of
Europe. In: Martill, Benjamin a Staiger, Uta (eds). Brexit and Beyond: Rethinking the
Futures of Europe. London: UCL Press, pp. 63-71.
Exam terms (tentative): 19 May, 2 June, 16 June and 30 June