Brexit: Weighing Sovereign Gains and Losses

Abstract

Theresa May has promised to make Britain once again ‘a sovereign and independent country.’ That is not as simple as it sounds. Brexit is bound to be accompanied by both gains and losses in sovereignty. By leaving the European Union the UK loses the co-decisional powers it has by virtue of participating in the EU’s supranational institutions. Whether the freedom gained can be used to enter into compensatory bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, as Brexit proponents argue, is anything but certain. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the situation more closely. It begins in Part I with a definition of sovereignty, and in Part II goes on to examine the political situation prevailing in the UK and the EU. Part III, by looking at the upcoming negotiations, is an attempt to weigh de jure and de facto gains and losses. It is doubtful whether the massive Brexit effort will pay off. At the end of the day, Great Britain will hardly be more sovereign and independent.