This episode of The IR thinker explores how the European Union exercised power throughout the Brexit process, in conversation with Dr Patrick Holden. Working from a neo-Gramscian perspective, the discussion examines how communication, institutional design and rhetorical strategy combined to generate structural power in the EU–UK negotiations. We unpack surprising findings about how EU institutions shaped the options available to London, how norms and “EU values” functioned as tools of influence, and who better understood the vulnerabilities of European integration. Particular attention is given to the negotiation and communication styles of Michel Barnier and Stefaan De Rynck, what their rhetoric reveals about EU hegemony, and what reforms to the EU’s external action machinery may be needed if Brussels is to preserve its leverage and credibility beyond 2025.

Patrick Holden

Dr Patrick Holden is Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Plymouth, where he leads the online Master’s programme in International Relations: Security and Development. His research focuses on the European Union’s external relations, international political economy and development policy, and he is widely published on Europe’s role in the international system. Combining theoretical depth with engagement in contemporary policy debates, he offers a nuanced perspective on how the EU projects power, manages relations with non-members and navigates a changing global order.

Publications:

In Search of Structural Power

Irreconcilable Tensions? The EU’s Development Policy in an Era of Global Illiberalism

What kind of hegemony? The European Union in its region

Strongholds of Liberalism? The Reaction of Regional Integration Institutions to the Pandemic Trade Crisis

Content

00:00 – Introduction

01:54 – Why link the EU with hegemony? A Neo-Gramscian view

04:56 – EU power during Brexit: communication and political actions

07:28 – Structural power: how EU institutions shaped Brexit

11:43 – Surprising findings on EU structural power

13:42 – EU values vs. interests: norms as a tool of influence

16:10 – UK rejection of EU principles and vulnerabilities of integration

20:04 – Who understood vulnerabilities better: the EU or the UK?

21:25 – Researching vulnerabilities as a scholar

23:18 – Barnier, De Rynck, and rhetorical strategies in Brexit talks

26:56 – Power balance in EU–UK negotiations

28:47 – Barnier and De Rynck: communication styles and strategy

31:39 – Lessons from Barnier and De Rynck’s negotiation styles

33:05 – Why rhetoric matters: qualitative insights on EU hegemony

34:49 – Have scholars studied Brexit enough?

37:30 – Brexit’s impact on EU relations with non-members

43:18 – Should the EU’s External Action Service gain more power?

45:15 – Brexit as a test of EU hegemonic resilience

49:31 – EU hegemony in the shadow of US hegemony

56:20 – What EU hegemony needs in 2025

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