Not that long ago, the idea that Britain would vote to leave the EU was pretty much dismissed as a near-impossibility.Yet, here we are - and, by any measure, its implementation has become an unmitigated disaster.
A Brief History of the UK and EU
For many centuries, the European continent was a collection of individual nation states - often warring with each other. The United Kingdom, and Great Britain before it, has stood on its own as a locus of power for over a century. Out of the ashes of 2 world wars that nearly destroyed Europe as we know it, and as a bulwark against the growing threat of Soviet hegemony, European countries began to band together. The first step towards the European Union was the European Coal and Steel Community established in the 1950s. However, the UK did not join until 1973. The European Union as we know it today was codified in 1993 with the Treaty of Maastricht established the common European market - the EU. Even from the start, the UK was hesitant to embrace the EU in its totality - the UK never adopted the Euro as a currency, nor did it sign on to the Schengen area in which free movement was guaranteed between countries. The EU, as a trading bloc, became the second largest economy in the world (behind China) - a monumental accomplishment. However, the benefits of the EU have not been evenly distributed. Often times, the smaller economies (Greece, Cyprus, Italy) have found themselves beholden to the loans given to them by the blocs biggest economy - Germany. The austerity measures imposed on those economies by their lenders created much discontent.
However, the United Kingdom didn't have those kinds of issues. In fact, the economic impact of being a member of the EU has been decidedly positive for Britain. Since joining the proto-EU European Coal and Steel Community, the UK's economy has grown by 103% - outpacing the United States (97%) and crushing that of fellow EU member France (73%).
Why Brexit?
On June 23rd, 2016 the United Kingdom held a referendum on if they should remove themselves from the European Union. Nearly every "expert" predicted that the referendum would fail and the "Nos" would win the day. They were wrong. At the end of the vote, 52% of the voters opted to remove the United Kingdom from the Maastricht Treaty. Brexit proved to be the first in a string of chinks in the armor of the global world order that had been in place for decades - followed by more nationalist-centric governments arising in certain European countries, as well as the election of Donald Trump in the United States. However, given the apparent net economic benefit of the EU, why would UK citizens want to leave? Much has been said about the vote and its outcome, but the main arguments that "leavers" put forward were not economic, but rather that of sovereignty and, in particular, the issue of immigration.
What is a "No Deal" Brexit?
When Brexit passed, there was little thought that had been put towards what, exactly, a Brexit would look like. In the interim, the contours of that exit have become increasingly hard to nail down. The exit from the EU was triggered by invoking "Article 50" of the EU charter, which dictates the procedure in which a member state "negotiate and conclude an agreement with [the leaving] State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the [European] Union."But those negotiations are not going well... to say the least. There have been a succession of failed attempts to create some sort of
