Dan Kelemen in Foreign Affairs on Brexit: London Falling

Network member Dan Kelemen (Rutgers) has a great piece out in Foreign Affairs on the impact and causes of Brexit: the UK's "historic act of self-harm."  Entitled London Falling, it is available in full here (free registration required).  The first two paragraphs follow.

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In a historic act of self-harm, the British electorate has chosen to leave the European Union. Brexit—as it is called—will do severe damage to the United Kingdom’s economy and its strategic interests. Brexit will also deal a heavy blow to the project of European integration. The EU will survive, but it will never be the same. Leaders of far-right parties across Europe cheered the referendum result, as did Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s allies shuddered, and financial markets in the country and across the world plummeted.

With negotiations beginning over the terms of the United Kingdom’s departure, much is uncertain. But one thing is clear already: the Leave campaign’s claim that the EU had robbed the United Kingdom of its sovereignty was false. If nothing else, the vote shows that the country was sovereign all along and that it was free to make disastrous decisions.

The piece continues here.

Dan Kelemen on Brexit in Foreign Affairs

Network member Dan Kelemen (Rutgers) has alerted us to a new article out in Foreign Affairs on Brexit, co-authored with Matthias Matthijs.  Entitled "Should It Stay or Should It Go?: The Brexistential Crisis," the article deconstructs the deal, and asks what's really at stake for the United Kingdom.

The first paragraph follows; the full piece is available here.

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British Prime Minister David Cameron was quick to claim victory after the recent European Council meeting on the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union. After marathon talks that saw Cameron and his team sustain themselves on 23 bags of Haribo gummy sweets and a famished German Chancellor Angela Merkel forced to pop around the corner for some Belgian Frites with mayonnaise, the United Kingdom and its European partners finally reached an agreement. As Cameron put it, he had obtained a "special status" for his country and could now campaign with all his "heart and soul" for Britain to remain in the European Union, thus avoiding a Brexit (or British exit).

The article continues here.

The Network on SSRN: Erin Delaney on "Judiciary Rising: Constitutional Change in the United Kingdom"

Network member Erin Delaney (Northwestern) has posted a new piece on SSRN, entitled "Judiciary Rising: Constitutional Change in the United Kingdom."  The article is forthcoming from the Northwestern University Law Review.  The abstract is below and the full article may be downloaded here.

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Britain is experiencing a period of dramatic change that challenges centuries-old understandings of British constitutionalism. In the past fifteen years, the British Parliament enacted a quasi-constitutional bill of rights; devolved legislative power to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; and created a new Supreme Court. British academics debate how each element of this transformation can be best understood: is it consistent with political constitutionalism and historic notions of parliamentary sovereignty, or does it usher in a new regime that places external, rule-of-law-based limits on Parliament? Much of this commentary examines these changes in a piecemeal fashion, failing to account for the systemic factors at play in the British system.

This Article assesses the cumulative force of the many recent constitutional changes, shedding new light on the changing nature of the British constitution. Drawing on the U.S. literature on federalism and judicial power, the Article illuminates the role of human rights and devolution in the growing influence of the U.K. Supreme Court. Whether a rising judiciary will truly challenge British notions of parliamentary sovereignty is as yet unknown, but scholars and politicians should pay close attention to the groundwork being laid.