The British left: For and against Europe? A historical survey

Abstract

Employing a neo-Gramscian approach, and more specifically, Coxian historicism, this article argues that the European policies of the British left underwent three significant shifts during the post-war period: the first during the period 1945 to 1970 (from indifference to support), the second in the period between 1971 and 1987 (from support to opposition), and the third during the post-1988 period (from opposition to support). It further argues that these changes resulted from transformations in the balance of power between antiand pro-EU forces, themselves linked to competing social forces at the global, European, national and institutional levels.