Matthews, F. orcid.org/0000-0002-3248-5386 (2017) Whose mandate is it anyway? Brexit, the constitution and the contestation of authority. Political Quarterly, 88 (4). pp. 603-611. ISSN 0032-3179
Abstract
Over the past year, a seemingly relentless barrage of Brexit-related challenges has besieged the constitution, which together have called into question the legitimacy of the British political system. Yet although it is tempting to regard the decision to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union as precipitating an acute constitutional crisis, this article argues that political and democratic dilemmas arising from Brexit are symptomatic of a wider constitutional malaise, the roots of which extend far beyond 23 June 2016. Flowing out of this, the article contends that the current crisis is one of ‘constitutional myopia’, fuelled by decades of incoherent reforms and a failure to adequately address democratic disengagement; and that the EU referendum and its aftermath have merely exposed the extent to which the foundations of the constitution have been eviscerated.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author 2017. The Political Quarterly © The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2017 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Political Quarterly. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Parliamentary sovereignty; constitutional reform; referendum; devolution; direct democracy; majoritarianism |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 16 Aug 2017 13:34 |
Last Modified: | 12 Sep 2018 00:38 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12419 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/1467-923X.12419 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:120218 |