Differentiated (Dis)integration in Practice: The Diplomacy of Brexit and the Low Politics of High Politics

• Published in: Journal of common market studies 2019-11, Vol.57 (6), p.1419-1430
• Main Authors: Svendsen, Øyvind, Adler‐Nissen, Rebecca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accession; Brexit; Common Security and Defence Policy; Cooperation; differentiated disintegration; Differentiation; Diplomacy; EU membership; Military policy; National security; Politics; practice; security; Social dynamics; Social meaning
• ISSN: 0021-9886; 1468-5965
• DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12960

This article advances a practice approach to differentiated (dis)integration in European security and defence in light of Brexit. We propose that understanding how differentiation in the area of security and defence is given meaning on the ground requires examining the everyday social practices of officials and military professionals. Therefore, we focus on the ‘low politics’ of security and defence cooperation in Europe. We do so by entering the diplomatic engine room in the EU's Political and Security Committee (PSC). We show how arguments that Brexit will either be the ultimate death blow to the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) or that it will be the catalyst for deeper military cooperation fail to take account of the social dynamics and the historical path of security and military cooperation in Europe. Future research on differentiation should pay particular attention to how such dynamics play out in the everyday social negotiation of meaning among practitioners. This article is part of the 2019 Symposium titled ‘Responding to Brexit: Differentiated integration and disintegration in the European Union’, which also includes Differentiated Integration and Disintegration in the EU after Brexit: Risks versus Opportunities by Benjamin Leruth, Stefan Gänzle and Jarle Tronda (https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12957), On the Methodology of Studying Differentiated (Dis)integration: Or How the Potential Outcome Framework Can Contribute to Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Opting In or Out by Marian Burk and Dirk Leuffen (https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12958), The End of Exceptionalism and a Strengthening of Coherence? Law and Legal Integration in the EU Post‐Brexit by Paul James Cardwell (https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12959), and Rethinking Britain's Role in a Differentiated Europe after Brexit: A Comparative Regionalism Perspective by Philomena Murray and Alex Brianson (https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12961).