2021/06/18 Brexit Geographies of the United Kingdom

Chair: Johannes Glückler, Heidelberg University, Germany

Geography is central to understanding the antecedents and consequences of Brexit, as demonstrated in both quantitative and qualitative studies. Extant research has analyzed the factors that explain leave votes and has shown the significance of age, education, individual attitudes and local context. Quantitative studies forecasting the economic consequences of Brexit, have shown negative and geographically uneven impacts on the UK and the EU economies. Brexit is a decisive event for the political, social and economic development of the European Union. Nevertheless, it appears to be less and less an exception, but rather an outstanding example of increasing interregional decoupling. Civil society movements and political aspirations towards regional autonomy and separation in Scotland, Catalonia or South Tyrol, and more general tendencies towards national populism and international disintegration in Europe, the Americas and Asia, point to the need for a better understanding of the geographical conditions and consequences of political decoupling. Brexit has shown that withdrawal from the EU is not a one-off event but rather an unpredictable, arduous, and uncertain process that confronts those directly and indirectly involved with ever new decisions under conditions of ongoing uncertainty. Because of the re-emergence of regional decoupling across the world economy, and because of its potential effects as critical junctures for regional, national and international economies, we recognize the need to further explore the economic geographies of Brexit. In these sessions we would like to focus on the nature and uncertainty of Brexit as a process over the last four years, as well as its short- and long-term economic effects at various scales of enquiry, from individuals and households (including EU migrants in the UK and UK citizens living abroad), workplaces, firms and other organizations, industries and economic sectors, local markets, cities, regions, and countries.