How disastrous was “Brexit”? How much did it affect the United Kingdom’s economy and its living standards? How has it changed the political relationship between the UK and the European Union? Could it ever be reversed? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews R. Daniel Kelemen in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. 

An expert on European Affairs, Kelemen is a Professor of Political Science and Law at Rutgers University, where he is the Chair of the Department of Political Science. Prior to Rutgers, Kelemen was Fellow in Politics at the Lincoln College, University of Oxford. He has been a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, visiting fellow in the Program in Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) at Princeton University, and a Fulbright Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. Kelemen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he is a frequent commentator on EU affairs in US and international media. 

In this episode, Kelemen discusses how the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have masked the negative impact of “Brexit”, the future of the relationship between the UK and Europe, and the role of the British government led by Boris Johnson. Kelemen also addresses the way in which the public’s attitude towards politics increasingly resembles a fan’s attitude towards the football team they root for, and the process of democratic backsliding and increasing authoritarianism in some European Union countries. Finally, Kelemen looks at the 2022 French presidential elections, at how Russia's invasion of Ukraine will unite Europe, and at Putin's efforts to divide it, in a conversation well worth listening to. 

More on this topic

 • Eurolegalism: The Transformation of Law and Regulation in the European Union, R. Daniel Kelemen, 2011 

• R. Daniel Kelemen on the causes, controversies and consequences of Brexit

• An article by R. Daniel Kelemen on authoritarianism in the EU

• R. Daniel Kelemen’ opinion pieces for Politico

Other references in Portuguese

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa, “Brexit e a Europa que temos”, with Ana Gomes and Miguel Poiares Maduro 

• Podcast Da Capa à Contracapa, “Eleições numa Europa cada vez mais fragmentada”, with Nuno Sampaio and Carlos Jalali