Professor Emeritus, Northeastern University; Seminar Co-chair & Local Affiliate, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
October 6, 2017
2:15pm - 4:00pm
Goldman Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
Although the United Kingdom is the first fully-fledged member state
ever to decide to withdraw from the European Union, it is not the first
to do so. Only five years after the Treaty of Rome, in 1962, Algeria
took the same step as part of its assertion of independence from France
and in 1985 Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark, left the European
Community (EC). This presentation discusses the lessons that can be
learned for Brexit from the ‘Algexit’ of 1962 and the ‘Greenxit’ of
1985, despite the obvious differences from today’s situation with the
United Kingdom. Most importantly, it highlights the complex relationship
between processes of integration and disintegration as a more permanent
feature of the European integration process than existing research
suggests.