Abstract
It is tempting when viewing the Brexit referendum and its justifications to lean on identity based analyses for explanations, pointing to a rise in right wing nationalism. However, if we are to look at the economic standing of those who voted no in the Brexit referendum, and moreover, to realize their place in larger flows of neoliberalism, a more complex picture comes into view. Neo-Gramscian theory is uniquely placed on this backdrop in its ability to give us a critical perspective on hegemony, as well as backlash towards it. In the course of this paper, the possibility that Brexit offers us an example of anti-hegemonic backlash against the larger neoliberal project of the EU will be explored. That is to say, in the context of an organic project of neoliberal expansion in which the leftist alternative in the UK has largely come to support further integration into the EU, to what extent can the Brexit vote be seen as counter-hegemony with no outlet?
Highlights
Often in academic analyses of Brexit voting patterns, a top-down perspective is used, neglecting the agency of the common people in their voting behavior
If we look again from the dual perspectives of the international expansion of capital as well as hegemony, we can begin to re-interpret the backlash seen in the Brexit vote through the lens of counter-hegemony in response to a neoliberal project on the EU level
When asked to respond to the British public on the Brexit result from the perspective of an intellectual from the EU, Slavoj Zizek stated, “Europe is caught in a vicious cycle, oscillating between the false opposites of surrender to global capitalism and surrender to antiimmigrant populism – which politics has a chance of enabling us to step out of this mad dance?” (Zizek, 2016)
Summary
Often in academic analyses of Brexit voting patterns, a top-down perspective is used, neglecting the agency of the common people in their voting behavior. In the course of this investigation, first, neo-Gramscian perspectives of politics and society will briefly be outlined, a brief outline of the UK and the EU in the sense of their incorporation into neoliberal capital will be put forward, as well as the position of left wing politics within this, and our attention will be turned to the perspectives of the common people in the UK in terms of their voting behavior. Dell in the Brexit vote and their positionality in terms of their economic disadvantage in relation to expanding neoliberalism
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