Governmentality, Immigration, and Brexit

Anotace: Once upon a time a group of waning imperial powers decided, in the wake of the most egregious manifestation of imperial carnage on their home soil, to try and overcome their own internal squabbles by bundling their powers through the formation of a European association. Although this so-called European Union long flourished and steadily expanded in size, one member-state by the name of the United Kingdom, itself a reluctant latecomer to the club, had grown increasingly anxious of the union it had once voluntarily joined. The European Union, or so the British said, had over the years been unmasked as a German-led gargantuan monster that had slowly eaten away their cherished sovereignty. Even though most of the other nations disagreed with this reading of events, they had nonetheless generally been susceptible to these recurring episodes of British bluster. Yet despite having gradually granted them an array of concessions, ranging from a ‘rebate’ to a seemingly endless list of ‘opt-outs’, the British only grew more discontented. They hence decided to hold a referendum to settle the question of British membership to the Union once and for all. Upon hearing that it was ‘the will of the British people’ to become the first nation to leave their European Union, the remaining members could only muster one unified yet baffled response: how on earth did this happen?