O Reino Unido e a Europa Continental: um debate sobre o Brexit e o processo de integração na Europa

Abstract

This dissertation examines the complex relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, culminating in the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU through Brexit. It analyzes the UK’s historical ambivalence towards European integration, the growing Euroscepticism leading up to the 2016 referendum and subsequent negotiations, and the impact of Brexit on British domestic politics. The dissertation argues that the United Kingdom’s exceptionalist view of itself, its historical preference for a global role to the detriment of regional integration and growing public concern about sovereignty and immigration ended up fueling the Brexit decision. Furthermore, this phenomenon brings us important elements for the study of regional integration in Europe and allows us to understand that the post-functionalist analysis of integration, added to the concepts of differentiated integration and differentiated disintegration, have key elements for understanding Brexit and subsequent events and challenges in the field of regional integration theories in Europe.