Political Economy and the Study of Britain and European Integration: A Global-National Perspective

Abstract

An extensive range of evidence and analysis has been employed to understand the complex relationship between Britain and the process of European integration. This article builds on a body of work within the study of European integration that examines British economic interests in European policy-making. However, I show that a comprehensive explanation of this relationship requires the application of a politico-economic analysis on national articulations of global and transnational processes. It is, I propose, Britain's distinctive insertion into the global economy that enables us to understand and explain Britain's problematic relationship to the processes of European integration. This is explored through an analytic narrative of Britain's historical relationship to the process of European integration. From a broad comparative perspective, I emphasise the exceptional character of Britain's globalised political economy.