Dr Neil Winn examines the future of EU-UK security relations
Dr Winn, Senior Lecturer in European Studies, writes for UK in a Changing Europe on the 75th anniversary of the Potsdam conference, looking at how the history of EU-UK security informs the future.
In the article, Dr Winn traces the last 75 years of the UK’s role in the international security environment. Starting with the Potsdam conference of July 1945, ‘against the backdrop of increasing tensions between the Western allies and the Soviet Union, which eventually developed into the Cold War’, through the creation of international institutions after World War Two, the Cold War, and eventually the UK’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union.
The article considers the position that the UK occupied internationally before Brexit, as well as the standing of the EU on a national stage which, Dr Winn argues, cannot be reduced to just ‘its trade and economic powers rather than military capabilities’.
‘This dualism is far too simplistic’, Dr Winn argues, ‘it ignores the extent and depth of the European integration process in defence and secruity fields.’
By leaving the EU, ‘the UK has one less avenue to influence the outside world’, despite the government’s Global Britain agenda, which it belives ‘will open up new opportunities for the UK in a range of fields.’
Dr Winn goes on to explore whether the UK could regain its previous infuence over global events, especially in light of the covid-19 pandemic.
