| Summary/Abstract |
Any discussion of a potential ‘Brexit’ should be set against the backdrop of an increasingly convulsive European landscape. The merits and shortcomings of the European Union should be judged not in isolation, but through the lens of their implications upon a broader postwar European order that Britain has helped to build and sustain for nearly seven decades. US strategic retrenchment, Germany's economic and political pre-eminence within the EU, and Russia's attempts to recreate a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe are likely to disrupt the European balance. Luis Simón argues that ‘Brexit’ could exacerbate each of these disruptive trends – with negative ramifications for UK national security. Conversely, he contends, by leveraging its membership of and influence within the EU, Britain could help revitalise the transatlantic relationship, mitigate the spectre of a German-dominated EU, and check Russian revisionism in Eastern Europe.
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