Skip to main content

The deep story of Leave voters affective assemblages: implications for political decentralisation in the UK

British Politics volume 16, pages 203–218 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

How do British Pluralist traditions need to be re-imagined to address the issues at the heart of the Brexit vote? This paper will use qualitative research about why Britain voted for Brexit to examine this question. The paper interrogates the question that we require a more decentred local government at a community level in order for people to feel both represented, and able to participate. Firstly, it will analyse the values, attitudes and beliefs of Leave voters who participated in the study, and situate them in terms of the affective assemblages of symbolic meaning, ideas, beliefs, values and emotion through which they imagined themselves and their community. It will examine the ‘deep story’ (Boler and Davis, in Emotion Space Soc 27:75–85, 2018) through which participants affective responses are situated into inherited historical cultures and traditions, exploring where participants located themselves in relation to others and their particular cultures and traditions. In the final part of the paper, I consider what this means for British pluralist traditions at a local and community level in a post-Brexit polity. I find that the Leave vote signals and symbolises a turn to the traditional Nation State as the political space that can protect and care for individuals who long for control over their worlds. This is potentially at odds with their expressed desire stronger democratic engagement.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Ahmed, S. 2004. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnorsson, A., and A. Zoega. 2018. On the Causes of Brexit. European Journal of Political Economy 55: 301–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, S., Fetzer, T., Novy, D. 2017. Who Voted for Brexit? A Comprehensive District Level Analysis. Centre for Economic Performance Discussion Paper No 1480. London School of Economics and Political Science.

  • Bergson, Henri. 2004 [1908]. Matter and Memory. Mineola: Dover Publications.

  • Birrell, D., and A. Gray. 2017. Devolution: The Social, Political, and Policy Implications of Brexit for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Journal of Social Policy 46 (4): 765–782.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boler, M., and E. Davis. 2018. The Affective Politics of the Post-Truth Era: Feeling Rules and Network Subjectivity. Emotion, Space, and Society 27: 75–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonacchi, C., M. Altaweel, and M. Kryzanska. 2018. The Heritage of Brexit: Roles of the Past in the Construction of Political Identities Through Social Media. Journal of Social Archaeology 18 (2): 174–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, W. 1992. Identity/Difference: Democratic Negotiations of Political Paradox. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, W. 2002. Neuropolitics: Thinking, Culture, Speed (Theory Out of Bounds). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connolly, W. 2008. Capitalism and Christianity, American Style. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions. 2019. https://cpmr.org/wpdm-package/uk-allocation-for-cohesion-policy-for-post2020/.

  • Charmaz, K. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curtis, K. 2016. Personality’s Effect on European Identification. European Union Politics 17 (3): 429–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. 2004. A thousand plateaus. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorling, D. 2016. Brexit: The Decision of a Divided Country. BMJ 354: i3697.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flick, U. 2006. An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. 1998. The History of Sexuality: 1: The Will to Knowledge. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giovannini, A. 2016. Towards a ‘New English Regionalism’ in the North? The Case of Yorkshire First. Political Quarterly 87 (4): 590–600.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, M., and C. Milaazzo. 2017. Taking Back Control? Investigating the Role of Immigration in the 2016 Vote for Brexit. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19 (3): 450–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellner, E. 2008. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hampshire-Monk, I. 1992. Modern Political Thought: Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, A., C. Jeffry, D. Wincott, and R. Wyn Jones. 2017. How Brexit was Made in England. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19 (4): 631–646.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, E., and T. Ranger, eds. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkin, J. 2017. When Polanyi Met Farage: Market Fundamentalism, Economic Nationalism, and Britain’s Exit from the European Union. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 19 (3): 465–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC). 2018. Devolution and Exiting the EU: Reconciling Differences and Building Strong Relationships. London: House of Commons.

  • Jennings, W., and G. Stoker. 2017. Tilting Towards a Cosmopolitan Axis? Political Change in England and the 2017 General Election. Political Quarterly 88 (3): 359–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keating, M. 2008. Thirty Years of Territorial Politics. West European Politics 31 (1): 60–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenealey, D. 2016. The Tale of One City: The Devo Manc Deal and its Implications for English Devolution. Political Quarterly 87 (4): 572–581.

    Google Scholar 

  • Los, B., P. McCann, J. Springford, and M. Thissen. 2017. The Mismatch between Local Voting and the Local Economic Consequences of Brexit. Regional Studies 51 (5): 786–799.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCann, P. 2016. The UK Regional–National Economic Problem: Geography, Globalisation and Governance. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrattan, C., and S. Williams. 2017. Devolution and Identity: Multidirectionality in ‘Welshness’ and ‘Northern Irishness.’ Regional and Federal Studies 27 (4): 465–482.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. 2002 [1945]. The Phenomenology of Perception. London: Routledge Classics.

  • Mycock, A. 2016. The Politics of England. Political Quarterly 87 (4): 534–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pencheva, D., and K. Maronitis. 2018. Fetishizing Sovereignty in the Remain and Leave Campaigns. European Politics and Society 19 (5): 526–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polyakova, A., and N. Fligstein. 2016. Is European Integration Causing Europe to Become More Nationalist? Evidence from the 2007–9 Financial Crisis. Journal of European Union Public Policy 23 (1): 60–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prosser, B., A. Renwick, A. Giovannini, M. Sandford, M. Flinders, W. Jennings, G. Smith, P. Spada, G. Stoker, and K. Ghose. 2017. Citizen Participation and Changing Governance: Cases of Devolution in England. Policy and Politics 45 (2): 251–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Protopova, D. 2018. Being Ethnically Fluid in Post-Brexit Britain: How Teaching English Literature in England Made Me Want—Momentarily—To Return to Russia and Join Putin’s Party. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education 25 (1): 107–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, C. 2017. Brexit and the Devolution Dynamics. Environmental Law Review 19 (1): 3–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., J. Corbin, and J. Corin. 2008. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Travers, T. 2016. Why Did People Vote for Brexit? Deep Seated Grievances Lie Behind This Vote. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/why-did-people-vote-for-brexit/. Accessed 11 Aug 2017.

  • Tressell, R. 2005 [1955]. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • University of Oxford. 2017. http://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/oxford-and-brexit/brexit-analysis/mapping-brexit-vote.

  • Virdee, S., and B. McGeever. 2018. Racism, Crisis, Brexit. Ethnic and Racial Studies 41 (10): 1802–1819.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willett, J., and J. Cruxon. 2019. Towards a Participatory Representative Democracy? UK Parish councils and Community Engagement. British Politics 14 (3): 311–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willett, J. 2013. National Identity and Regional Development: Cornwall and the Campaign for Objective 1 Funding. National Identities 15 (3): 297–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willett, J. 2016. Cornwall’s Devolution Deal: Towards a More Sustainable Governance? Political Quarterly 87 (4): 582–589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willett, J., and A. Giovannini. 2014. The Uneven Path of UK Devolution: Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Regionalism in England—Cornwall and the North-East Compared. Political Studies 64: 343–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willett, J., R. Tidy, G. Tregidga, and P. Passmore. 2019. Why did Cornwall Vote for Brexit? Assessing the Implications for Structural Funding Programmes. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 37 (8): 1343–1360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, J. 2016. Locating Localism: Statecraft, Citizenship, and Democracy. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. 2017. The Constitutional Implications of Brexit. European Public Law 23 (4): 757–786.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, C., and N. Lille. 2015. Industrial Citizenship, Cosmopolitianism and European Integration. European Journal of Social Theory 18 (1): 93–111.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, TR10 9FE, UK

    Joanie Willett

Authors
  1. Joanie Willett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joanie Willett.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Willett, J. The deep story of Leave voters affective assemblages: implications for political decentralisation in the UK. Br Polit 16, 203–218 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-021-00171-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-021-00171-x

Keywords

  • Pluralism
  • Brexit
  • Affect
  • Assemblage
  • Leave Voters