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The inevitability of gradualness: the longer-term origins of the 23 June 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum. Bruges Political Research Papers 56/2017

Westlake, Martin (2017) The inevitability of gradualness: the longer-term origins of the 23 June 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum. Bruges Political Research Papers 56/2017. [Policy Paper]

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    Abstract

    This paper identifies and charts a number of longer-term trends that led ultimately to the United Kingdom’s 23 June 2016 in-out referendum on European Union membership. It shows in particular how a device, the referendum, until recently regarded as anathema to the British tradition of parliamentary democracy, was first legitimised, then constitutionalised and, simultaneously, popularised. And it shows how manifesto commitments for a referendum on the single currency morphed into commitments for a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty and then the Lisbon Treaty and then into referendum lock acts and, finally, the in-out referendum.

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    Item Type: Policy Paper
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > Brexit
    Countries > U.K.
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > European elections/voting behavior
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > College of Europe (Brugge) > Bruges Political Research Papers
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 11 Apr 2017 16:49
    Number of Pages: 55
    Last Modified: 10 Dec 2019 16:31
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/85967

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