Brexit

Who is afraid of group attachment? Part II. Democracy: what democracy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID17640904
AutoresArturo Ezquerro (0000-0002-9910-4576, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen54
Número2
Páginas265-283
Fecha de publicación2020-09-17
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGroup Analysis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0533-3164 • E-ISSN: 1461-717X
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0533316420957923
OpenAlexW3089674270
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas17

Through group thinking and thorough research, this article critically examines the democratic quality of the June 2016 UK referendum on EU membership. The Brexit ‘mandate’ is based on 52% of the voters but just 26% of the UK population. On a rigorous scrutiny, the referendum failed key tests on democratic legitimacy, such as human rights and the definition of the franchise. The UK Referendum Act 2015 excluded 3.3 million settled EU citizens from the franchise, which cast serious doubts: the political and legal status of common EU citizenship conferred by EU Treaties (based on equality and non-discrimination on grounds of nationality) was disregarded by the UK and by the EU. The article concludes that a democracy which intentionally excludes and marginalizes a whole group within its own political community is not legitimate enough

Brexit · Citizenship · Democracy · Direct democracy · Economics · European union · Legitimacy · Mandate · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Referendum · Scrutiny · Sociology · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Public Administration