Still Punching Above its Weight? Britain, the EU and the Politics of Foreign Policy Divorce

Britain has long been a leading member of the international community. London is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and a leading member of other significant international organisations including NATO, the G8, IMF, World Bank, OSCE and the European Union. Britain is a nuclear power and the City of London is a premier centre for international finance. For decades the United Kingdom has had a place at the top table of international diplomacy with corresponding significant influence in international affairs. Traditionally, the EU has been of secondary importance to British foreign affairs. However, since the signing of the Single European Act in the mid-1980s the UK has come to play a central role in EU foreign policy along with France and Germany. Can the UK still play a significant role in foreign affairs after Brexit? What will Brexit mean for EU foreign policy co-operation in the longer run? The paper will analyse the development of the politics of EC/EU-UK foreign relations since the 1990s and will focus on how the contemporary history of the relationship between Britain and the EU informs current debates in the foreign and security policy field and what this tells us about the impact of Brexit on European security in the longer term