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Book launch – Taking Control: Sovereignty and Democracy After Brexit
12 May @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
The British political system is running on empty. Its ruling elite emerged from the long Brexit crisis apparently just as clueless and incompetent as it was before. Why is this, and what can the British people do to truly ‘take control’?
Taking Control makes the democratic case for national sovereignty. The authors argue that leaving the EU could only be a necessary condition for the revival of democracy, that the Brexit process demonstrated the exhaustion of all Britain’s political traditions, and that what is needed now is a radical, forward-looking reconstitution of the British nation-state. It is essential reading for anyone who wonders why British politics is so dysfunctional and wants to do better.
Speakers:
Professor Peter Ramsay, LSE Law
Dr Philip Cunliffe, UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
Dr George Hoare, Co-presenter of Bungacast, The Global Politics Podcast
There will be a drinks reception following this event.
‘This is the most important book to come out of the struggles over Britain’s membership of the EU, and it makes all other works on the subject look trivial. The authors provide a profound analysis of the issues involved, and show how only thorough-going changes in Britain’s political and constitutional arrangements will be able to respond to the challenges of this near-revolutionary moment.’
Richard Tuck, Professor of Government Theory, University of Harvard
‘This book forcefully argues that Brexit was no more than the first step in a long process of rebuilding a democratic nation-state, indeed a democratic nation, out of the ruins of a politics without national sovereignty. Sovereign democracy requires effective institutions of civic representation that disempower a political elite content with ruling the void. This book is a breakthrough for democratic theory and a milestone for political debates on the future of democracy.’
Wolfgang Streeck, Emeritus Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne, Germany
‘A crucial book for understanding the Brexit paradox: why it failed catastrophically to deliver on its promise to re-democratise British politics, but why it remains a necessary precondition for achieving just that.’