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From eating cake to crashing out : constructing the myth of a no deal Brexit
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Kettell, Steven and Kerr, Peter (2020) From eating cake to crashing out : constructing the myth of a no deal Brexit. Comparative European Politics, 18 . pp. 590-608. doi:10.1057/s41295-019-00200-6 ISSN 1472-4790.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-019-00200-6
Abstract
This article traces the emergence and development of claims that the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union delivered a mandate for a so-called no-deal Brexit. Utilising Lacanian ideas about group mobilisation combined with a detailed content analysis and evidence drawn from polling data, it shows that this no deal narrative should be viewed as a discursive project that was constructed by a section of Leave campaigners relatively late into the Brexit process amidst growing disillusionment with the direction that negotiations with the EU were taking. By emphasising the role of Brexit as an ‘empty signifier’, the article shows that Brexit was initially successful in mobilising and uniting a disparate, but often unconnected, range of discontent to its cause. However, over time the complexities of the Brexit process triggered a discursive ‘war of position’ as competing visions of Brexit attempted to vie for dominance amongst the Leave camp. It is within this context that the myth of no deal emerged as an attempt by an elite group of actors to re-mobilise support for their cause.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | European Union -- Great Britain, Referendum -- Great Britain -- History -- 21st century, Great Britain -- Relations -- European Union countries, European Union countries -- Relations -- Great Britain, Political psychology -- Great Britain | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Comparative European Politics | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1472-4790 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | August 2020 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 18 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 590-608 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1057/s41295-019-00200-6 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Comparative European Politics. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Kettell, Steven and Kerr, Peter (2019) From eating cake to crashing out : constructing the myth of a no deal Brexit. Comparative European Politics . doi:10.1057/s41295-019-00200-6 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-019-00200-6 | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Copyright Holders: | © Springer Nature Limited 2019 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 29 October 2019 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 17 November 2020 | ||||||||
| Related URLs: |
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