Publication

This article discusses the possibilities of British separation from the EU and the resulting political, economic, and social situation. Since the December 2011 European Council, when the British prime minister blocked moves to amend the EU treaties, there has been speculation about a “domino secession”: the United Kingdom will break from the EU, causing Scotland to break with Britain. Any such British separatism would fly in the face of academic expectations: national groups that are heavily represented in the political process - as Scotland is in the UK, and the UK is in the EU - are usually deemed unlikely to reach for the exit. However, some academics have shown that separatism at the periphery can be the result of exclusionary forces from the center.