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The People Against Europe: The Eurosceptic Challenge to the United Kingdom's Coalition Government

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  • Chris Gifford

Abstract

This article approaches Euroscepticism as central to a contemporary dynamic of government and opposition. Populist Eurosceptic mobilizations exemplify opposition to depoliticized forms of political rule and demonstrate the tight political coupling of the national and the European. In the case of the United Kingdom, a depoliticized post-imperial governing approach to European integration has proved highly contested. From this perspective, the article examines the recent politics of Europe under the coalition government (from 2010 to 2013) as a period of Eurosceptic mobilization that successfully challenges European policy. What on the surface appears to be a problem of party management for the Conservative leadership is more accurately understood as a broader conflict between government and a populist Eurosceptic opposition. The outcome of this conflict is to further embed hard Euroscepticism within British politics to the point where maintaining governing autonomy on Europe is severely constrained, if not unfeasible.

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  • Chris Gifford, 2014. "The People Against Europe: The Eurosceptic Challenge to the United Kingdom's Coalition Government," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 512-528, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:52:y:2014:i:3:p:512-528
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jcms.12112
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mark Aspinwall, 2000. "Structuring Europe: Powersharing Institutions and British Preferences on European Integration," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 48(3), pages 415-442, June.
    2. Hooghe, Liesbet & Marks, Gary, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Mair, Peter, 2009. "Representative versus responsible government," MPIfG Working Paper 09/8, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
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    Cited by:

    1. Timothy Heppell & Andrew Crines & David Jeffery, 2017. "The United Kingdom Referendum on European Union Membership: The Voting of Conservative Parliamentarians," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 762-778, July.
    2. Ben Wellings & Helen Baxendale, 2015. "JCMS Special Issue 2015: Interpreting British European Policy. Guest Editors: Mark Bevir, Oliver Daddow and Pauline Schnapper," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 123-139, January.

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