BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

WHY BREXIT? A POLITICO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Author: Benuka Ferdousi

DOI Link: https:///www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2016v37n3a4

ABSTRACT

Brexit is a significant development in global economy and politics which, in near future, is going to shape the politics and economic policies in the United Kingdom (UK), Europe and beyond. As such, Brexit has raised significant discussion in the academia and policy level all over the world. As a part of this discussion, this paper aims to advance the discussion through identifying the factors which led the UK people towards Brexit. It reveals that European Union (EU) membership is an over-all benefit for the UK, particularly in cases of trade, investment and negotiating power and before the referendum most of the estimates, if not all, depicted a gloomy picture of the UK economy after Brexit. Yet, majority of the UK people voted for Brexit because they had been suffering from some ‘real’ problems for a long time − lower wage, tight housing market and overcrowded schools and hospitals, for which they wrongly held the EU and the immigrants liable, being influenced by their politicians as well as by their long-standing anti-EU sentiment. The paper reveals that ‘real’ causes of the sufferings of the UK people lie in the two basic features of the structure of the UK economy: growing financialisation and neoliberal path of development. Therefore, it can be said that financialisation and neoliberalism were the ultimate factors which, being strengthened by other political factors, led the country towards Brexit.