Sovereignty Post-Brexit, The State’s Core Function and EU Reintegration
Sovereignty Post-Brexit, The State’s Core Function and EU Reintegration

Summary/Abstract: With the successful 2016 BREXIT campaign, populist citizen demands directed the U.K. as a nation State to reclaim its diminished sovereignty and under Article 50 negotiations, to leave the European Union. Yet the negotiated transition of the U.K. and its 2019–2021 transitioni period carries with it potential implications not only for the future of the U.K. as a nation State and its legitimate expression of sovereignty but also for the remainder of 27 States who will need to reintegrate their partnerships within the regional bloc after the U.K. exits. This commentary proposes a 21st century GeoNOMOS model for the continuum of State sovereignty that outlines a core function for the State, constructs a framework of liberty that respects diversity, cultural heritage, domestic institutions while it promotes a new set of organizing principles in a society of economic traders. The GeoNOMOS model as proposed here, outlines a broad application not only for the U.K. as it restructures its sovereign function apart from the EU but also for those 27 remaining EU partnership States that struggle with the rise of populism across the Continent that demand more fiscal accountability and a centralized migration program within the European Union as a regional institution. Creating this new context for the 21st century expression of legitimate State sovereignty would potentially allow the U.K. to develop new best practices for other States to emulate and to lead a global conversation on matters related to the changing role of the nation State. The model outlined here defines sovereignty in terms of a State’s two key functions: [1] first and foremost, how the State cares for its own people, protecting participatory democracy and individual liberty; and then, [2] how a State protects its domestic institutions as it successfully engages on an international level within the “international community of states” and within a marketplace guided by capitalist globalization.

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