Bristol University Press Britain and Europe at a Crossroads: The Politics of Anxiety and Transformation

Looking at Brexit-Britain's departure from the European Union-in the context of imbalance between the state, markets, and civil society, Ryder seeks to identify means by which to regain equilibrium. He charts the trajectory of Brexit by dissecting speech actions of elite actors through discourse analysis at key moments in the Brexit process, and chronicles the shifts and turns of a changing society. His topics are Brexit nationalism: history, crisis, and identity; the road to Brexit; politics in focus: the Conservatives and Labour; the nationalists: exclusionary and civic; Brexit: views from Europe; whether Boris Johnson is getting Brexit done; and antidotes to Brexit. Annotation ©2022 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com) This book dissects the complex social, cultural and political factors which led the UK to take its decision to leave the EU and examines the far-reaching consequences of that decision. Developing the conceptual framework of securitization, Ryder innovatively uses primary sources and a focus on rhetoric to examine the ways that political elites engineered a politics of fear, insecurity and Brexit nationalism before and after the Brexit vote. He situates Brexit within a wider shift in international political ideas, traces the resurgence in popularity of far-right politics and explores how Britain and Europe now face a choice between further neoliberal reform or radical democratic and social renewal. Autorid: Andrew Ryder