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"‘Parliamentary’, ‘popular’ and ‘pooled’: Conflicts of sovereignty in the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Bickerton, Christopher 

Abstract

Many believe the UK to have been an awkward member of the EU, firmly attached to a traditional idea of parliamentary sovereignty. In fact, the UK’s membership of the EU has coincided with a profound transformation in the British state and corresponding understandings of sovereignty. This article examines this transformation by focusing on its legal and constitutional aspects. The article contends that EU membership has provided a context for “constitutional modernization” in the UK, undertaken in the absence of public scrutiny or debate. By the EU referendum of June 2016, the UK found itself with a transformed constitutional structure in practice but with an unchanged reliance in theory on a traditional notion of parliamentary sovereignty. Events over the last three years have revealed the depth of this disjuncture and its implications for British sovereignty.

Description

Keywords

4407 Policy and Administration, 4408 Political Science, 44 Human Society

Journal Title

Journal of European Integration

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0703-6337
1477-2280

Volume Title

41

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Rights

All rights reserved