Abstract:
It would be appropriate to say that Brexit was a watershed
event which had a ripple effect on international politics -
whether it was right-wing, conservative voices coining terms
such as ‘Frexit’, ‘Grexit’, ‘Clexit’ or its significance due to
the rise of populists around the world. President Donald
Trump’s surprise ascend to the White House in January 2017
was a glaring example of populism becoming the new norm
in international politics. The post-Brexit discourse has been
heavily focused on whether the United Kingdom (UK) would
opt for a ‘Hard Brexit’ and give up full access to the single
market and customs union or a ‘Soft Brexit’ with UK’s
relationship with the European Union (EU) remaining as
close as possible to the existing arrangements. In doing so,
what has been paid little attention to are the underlying
reasons of why Brexit happened, what could the future hold
for UK-EU relations and how relevant is Brexit for South
Asia, in particular Pakistan? This paper will attempt to make
sense of Brexit by analysing the longstanding paradox in UKEU relations wherein, the UK held a privileged position as it
was able to mould EU integration as per its own needs and
give back relatively less in return. It will also look at the
future of the EU by analysing the impact of Brexit on EU’s
defence, foreign and economic policy. Lastly, the paper will
look at the possible implications of Brexit on Pakistan.
