In 2017, a referendum was held in the United Kingdom which was meant to determine its status within the European Union (EU). To many’s surprise, the resulting vote was to leave the EU and to once again be considered a completely sovereign state. The UK was a member state of the EU since 1973, making this decision the most significant one made by a European country in decades (Langfitt). The UK is the first country to have sought divorce with the EU since the union's founding, following a greater trend throughout Europe of countries seeking more and more national autonomy (Langfitt). While many questions as to how Great Britain will fair in Brexit’s aftermath still stand, nationalism as a motivation for it is quite evident, as it is a pushback against the globalization of world government (Langfitt).

The referendum was formally recognized as being about the pros and cons of EU membership—pertaining to trade, travel, etc.— though polling data suggests that the primary motivation behind the desire to leave the EU is related to immigration policy (McKees and Galsworthy 3). Freedom of movement is a key part of EU membership, which allows any citizen of the EU to travel to any other member country; and also to work and live in member countries while being treated as a citizen of said countries (McKees and Galsworthy 3). This became an issue as events like the war in Syria led to an increase in migrants from the Middle East within EU countries, and this became a primary motivation for the UK’s desire to leave. 

Many people developed a sense that the “openness” of the UK’s borders to migration should not be beholden to the rest of Europe, and so the resistance to globalization became more apparent (McKees and Galsworthy 4). 

Over the course of the last decade, especially within the wake of Brexit, the nationalistic tendancy of Great Britain has been apparent. In fact, the UK has traditionally dragged its feet with regards to its involvement in EU affairs. As the world becomes more globalized and countries become more diverse, the exchanging and changing of cultural norms may come as a shock to some people within majority white countries, especially since that is typically not the experience of a white person—as white people have historically done the changing of other cultures (Scuira 3). This may result in insecurity, and that  may quickly become an aversion to change all together.

The discussion surrounding Brexit has many parallels with president Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”, and is related to toxic patriotism in that it involves the romanticization of one’s homeland. Brexit sentiments can also scapegoat migrants as an “affliction” of sorts on their otherwise great country, which fuels the toxic mindset further. The desire to excise this affliction resulted in Brexit. In a similar way, the January 6th insurrectionists sought to excise an affliction within their otherwise great country. 

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Primary Source:

Langfitt, Frank. “Brexit Day: What to Know when the U.K. Leaves The EU.” NPR, 31 Jan. 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/01/31/801289239/brexit-day-what-to-know-when-the-u-k-leaves-the-eu\

Other Works Cited:

McKee, Martin and Micheal J. Galsworthy. “Brexit: A Confused Concept Which Threatens Public Health.” Journal of Public Health, vol. 38, no. 1, March 2016. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48515744

Scuira, Leonardo. “Brexit Beyond Borders: Beginning of the EU Collapse and Return to Nationalism.” Journal of International Affairs, vol. 70, no. 2, Summer 2017. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/90012623