In 2016, 17.4 million people voted in favor of “Brexit”—the largest number of Britons who had ever voted for anything. Yet more than three years later, Britain remains stuck in the European Union.
“Brexit is an epochal struggle, and an exemplary one,” writes Claremont senior fellow Christopher Caldwell in his recent Claremont Review of Books essay, “Why Hasn’t Brexit Happened Yet?” The vote was not just about policies, but more fundamentally national identity—whether voters consider themselves Englishmen or Europeans. It was not a request for permission to leave—“it was an eviction notice.” Yet as the October 31 exit deadline approaches, the battle over Brexit rages on. Why?
Join us for a conversation with Christopher Caldwell about the motivations for Brexit, the unrelenting effort to thwart the demand for national sovereignty that it represents, and what victory for the Brexiteers means for the constitutional culture and the idea of liberty in the UK—and around the world.
