Research paper about Brexit. Social Sciences. Research Paper

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Brexit
Introduction
To understand what Brexit means, it is crucial to define explain what the EU is and how Britain became a member of the EU in the first place. The EU was formed after the Second World War as a political and economic union of the countries in Europe. Well, the union’s functions have since evolved, and today the union allows free flow of people and goods across all its member countries. The elimination of border controls between the member countries was one of the achievements of the EU, and through this directive, Europe became widely connected.
Britain was not among the first members to join the EU formerly the European Communities. However, in 1963, Britain submitted its first request to join the European Communities. But its application was denied mainly because of the opposition of Charles de Gaulle a former French President. However, in 1969, Britain made its third request to join the European Communities, and in 1973, Britain was officially considered a member of EC as it was formerly known. Well, since becoming a member, Britain has had a rocky relationship with the EU, and it took two years after joining the EC for the country to have its first national referendum to decide whether Britain was to remain a member of EC or not. The UK sought to join the EU mainly because of the economic gains. It was not willing to be a part of any political integration scheme, and neither was it willing to transfer any of its sovereign power to the EU. The latter part of the above statement is evidenced by the UK’s refusal of the Euro Zone and Schengen Area ideas. The EU, on the other hand, sought for a committed partner but it did not find one in Britain. Additionally, Mackenzie (2018) notes that Britain’s innate sense of superiority over its European neighbors might also have led to the rocky relationship between the UK and the EU. The friction between the UK and the EU continued to be shaky, and in 2016, this friction boiled over, and Britain had a referendum and voted the second time to decide on its membership to the EU. Unlike in 1975, this time around, those who voted to leave won with a majority percentage of 51.9%. With more than 30 million people turning out to vote, the country made the bold decision to leave the EU. But why did this happen, what kind of deal is Britain poised to get from the EU, and what are some of the short-term and long-term consequences of Brexit? Well, this article delves deeper into the issue and seeks to capture and explain why Brexit happened as well as the consequences or implications of Brexit to both the UK and the EU.
Why Britain voted to leave the EU
There are numerous speculations which seek to explain why Britain is leaving the EU (it is technically still a member). However, many of them are simply speculations with no truth in them. But looking at Britain’s history, several things can be said to have propagated the call or vote to leave the EU.
First of all, Britain has been a kingdom for a long time now and has been in control of several kingdoms especially during the colonialism era. Looking back, it is only a few decades when Britain was considered the superpower and the leader of civiliza...