Brexit as a Driver of European Disintegration: Institutional Reform and Differentiated Integration

This study investigates the disintegrative impact of Brexit on the European Union’s institutional framework. Disintegration may occur in the form of other member states leaving the union. Still, it can also manifest in terms of institutional reform in the direction of increased intergovernmentalism and executive dominance, resulting in a renationalization of the EU’s policymaking competences. The article contributes to the literature on European disintegration and differentiated integration by addressing the causal impact of Brexit as a driver of flexible institutional designs to meet the diverging demands of EU member states. The authors’ research is grounded in a constructivist approach, which draws from several theoretical accounts of European integration, proposing that Brexit has and will continue to result in increasing institutional differentiation in the EU. The authors test this hypothesis through an embedded single case study that examines how member states reacted to the new European power balance. The authors focus on proposals for institutional reform, particularly in relation to the Common Foreign Security Policy and the European Stability Mechanism.