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Rebordering Britain & Britons after Brexit

Mapping social science research on Brexit and migration

95 articles published 2021

A walk on the ‘rights’ side: EU citizenship reform based on international human rights law
Citizenship, today, is a concept in crisis. At the international level, migration poses significant questions of justice with regard to citizenship as an exclusionary status; while at the regional and domestic level…
Analysing migrants' ageing in place as embodied practices of embedding through time: 'Kilburn is not Kilburn any more'
There is growing attention to how people navigate and make sense of particular places through the ageing process. Against this backdrop, there is increasing research on ageing in contexts of migration. Although much of this research focuses on retirement and return migration…
Between the devil and the deep blue sea: Vulnerable EU citizens cast adrift in the UK post-Brexit
Both the UK Government and the EU negotiating team have let down vast numbers of EU citizens in the UK. The creation of continuing EU responsibilities in a newly ex-Member State, for EU citizens who exercised their EU free movement rights before withdrawal, is an unprecedented challenge.
Brexit and academia: a satyr play where exit prevails voice
This introduction to the special issue Brexit and Academia sketches some of the key challenges for academia that emerged from Brexit. Based on a brief overview of the current state of the withdrawal and the trade agreements, we reflect upon the consequences of Brexit on transnational research…
Brexit and European doctors' decisions to leave the United Kingdom: a qualitative analysis of free-text questionnaire comments
BackgroundQuantitative evidence suggests that Brexit has had a severe and negative impact on European doctors, with many medical staff leaving the UK. This study provides a detailed examination of European doctors' feelings towards Brexit, their intentions to leave the UK…
Brexit and the European National Health Service England Workforce: A Quantitative Analysis of Doctors' Perceived Professional Impact and Intentions to Leave the United Kingdom
Background: Although survey data suggest that Brexit has negatively influenced European doctors' decisions to remain in the United Kingdom, this is the first quantitative study to use multivariate analysis to explore this relationship. Objective:
Brexit and the Future of the European Union: Firm-Level Perspectives
Following the British referendum held on June 23, 2016, voters supported the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union (EU) (Brexit), a starting point for the third round of European crisis, following the eurozone debt crisis and the migration crisis.
Brexit and the stratified uses of national and European Union citizenship
In this article the authors explore how Brexit changes the social meanings and uses of formal national and EU citizenship and how these meanings and uses are stratified, including by migratory experience, class and age. They do so through in-depth interviews with Britons in Belgium…
Brexit, acculturative stress and mental health among EU citizens in Scotland
The `Brexit' referendum represents a hostile shift in the United Kingdom's acculturative context. With its remain majority and pro-migration political discourse, Scotland appears less hostile than the rest of the United Kingdom.
Britain’s Brexit Deal Debacle
The Brexit Deal marks an historic debacle for the United Kingdom. The UK failed to protect is core economic, political, strategic, and legal interests. Economically, while the UK overemphasized, and ultimately sold out, a tiny sector, fishing…
British migrants in Berlin: negotiating postcolonial melancholia and racialised nationalism in the wake of Brexit
World War II nostalgia in the UK is mired in a postcolonial melancholia that not only fuels Brexit nationalism, but carries implications for how the UK relates to the European Continent.
Colombian-Spanish Migrants in London since the Great Recession: Political Participation and Attitudes amid (Dis)Integration Processes
This article discusses the (dis)integration processes of Colombian-Spanish migrants arriving in London since the 2008 economic crisis, as the background to understand their political attitudes and participation. It is based on data from qualitative-quantitative fieldwork…
Contesting Brexit Masculinities: Pro-European Activists and Feminist EU Citizenship*
Although Brexit campaigns mobilized discourses of hegemonic masculinity that marginalize women, women seemed to be at the forefront of pro-EU campaigns post-referendum. I explore to what extent pro-EU activists make claims to EU citizenship that contest the masculinities of Brexit.
Discrete Events and Hate Crimes: The Causal Role of the Brexit Referendum
Objective The article contributes to the literature on discrete events and behavioral change among the public by studying the link between the United Kingdom's 2016 “Brexit”referendum and racial and religious hate crime.
Do I deserve to belong? Migrants' perspectives on the debate of deservingness and belonging
The notion of belonging, prominent in social sciences, has been recently used extensively in relation to Central Eastern European migrants in the UK.
Do they need to integrate? The place of EU citizens in the UK and the problem of integration
This article aims to provide empirical evidence against the theory and practice of immigrant integration through the experience of EU citizens in the UK around Brexit. We demonstrate that, in the case of EU citizens, the outcomes of presumably successful “integration” have been achieved while - and…
Economic turbulence and labour migrants' mobility intentions: Polish migrants in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany 2009-2016
Economists view earnings as a primary driver of migration, both actual and intended. However, studies on the relationship between migration intentions and earnings yield mixed results. We argue that earnings are an important factor…
EU nationals' vulnerability in the context of Brexit: the case of Polish nationals
Since the late 1990s, populist discourse based on anti-immigration sentiments has been on the rise in Britain. This phenomenon reached a peak during the EU Referendum (ER) campaign and shortly thereafter.
Exploring the trajectories of highly skilled migration law and policy in Japan and the UK
Japan and the UK appear to have few commonalities in terms of their history of and approach to migration law and policy. However, strong similarities in their contemporary approaches can be detected.
Facilitating Cross-Border Criminal Justice Cooperation Between the UK and Ireland After Brexit: `Keeping the Lights On' to Ensure the Safety of the Common Travel Area
Much of the cooperation on criminal justice matters between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland is based on EU level instruments.
Favouring a disunited Kingdom? How negative perceptions of the EU-referendum relate to individual mobility and collective action considerations
One consequence of the EU-referendum’s pro-Brexit outcome was a renewed call for Scottish independence. Supporting this call can be construed as a form of collective action Scots may engage in. However, Scots may also consider individual mobility strategies including-in extreme cases-emigration.
Identity, Belonging and Strategic Citizenship. Considerations About Naturalisation Among Italians and Spaniards Living in the EU
The subject of naturalisation among intra-EU migrants has only recently drawn the attention of social science scholars. Empirical evidence from quantitative studies shows an increase in citizenship applications among this new wave of mobile people, indicating a strategic use of naturalisation.
Imagining the impossible? fears of deportation and the barriers to obtaining EU Settled Status in the UK
In early 2021, over 5 million European Union (EU) citizens had applied for settled status to secure their right to continue to live, work and study in the United Kingdom (UK) after the country’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit). In 2018…
Immigration Status Uncertainty and Mental Health-Evidence from Brexit
The decision of the UK to leave the European Union created uncertainty for European citizens resident in the UK for the period 2016-2019. This paper studies the effects of this uncertainty on their mental health. Using data from a large household panel and a difference-in-differences framework…
Impact of Brexit on return migration to the Slovak Republic
Brexit is one of the most important events of the present time, which affects several areas of social life in the United Kingdom, as well as in the countries of the European Union and around the world. Obviously, this event is of interest to the academic and professional public.
Implications of Brexit for Skilled Migration from India to the UK
In June 2016, the United Kingdom took the world by surprise with the results of its referendum on whether to remain in the European Union (EU). With a 52% majority, the country decided to leave the bloc in which it had been a member since 1973.
Inclusion through irregularisation? Exploring the politics and realities of internal bordering in managing post-crisis labour migration in the EU
The technologies and practices of migration management are changing profoundly. They have been extended beyond territorial borders, immigration policies and assigned legal identities and downshifted to `inside' spaces across state and non-state `ordinary institutions'.
Intergenerational narratives of citizenship among EU citizens in the UK after the Brexit referendum
The share of British naturalization applications by EU citizens increased in the aftermath of the 2016 EU referendum. This article offers unique insights into the range of motivations informing decisions to become British or not among EU families from new and old EU member states.
Invisible Poles and their integration into Polish society: changing identities of UK second-generation migrants in the Brexit era
The article discusses what happens when a `critical event' exposes a migrant population to public view, leading them to reflect on their multiple identities and loyalties. Its focus is on twenty-first century Europe, where societies spread across international borders…
Key Ideas on Mobility and Social Security after Brexit
This article provides a general understanding of the main aspects of mobility (no longer referred to as free movement) and social security coordination, in the Brexit international agreements that govern the relationship of the EU with the United Kingdom: the Withdrawal Agreement (WA)…
Leave or remain? The post-Brexit (im)mobility intentions of Bulgarians in the United Kingdom
In the light of impending Brexit, what factors shape European Union migrants' plans to remain in or leave the UK? Based on an online survey of 360 Bulgarians, an under-researched migrant group in the UK, this study finds that the ones who plan to remain have lived longer in the UK…
Legal integration and the reconfiguration of identifications: material and symbolic effects of Brexit on British nationals in Berlin
Freedom of Movement is at the heart of European citizenship. It provides intra-European migrants with flexibility and dis-incentivizes from acquiring the nationality of another EU country. Through Brexit, British nationals lose their European citizenship and their right to free movement.
Loss and Assimilation: Lived Experiences of Brexit for British Citizens Living in Luxembourg
Inconsistent political realities are associated with mental health issues such as hopelessness, anxiety, and depression. The psychological impact of Brexit is clearly an important and timely issue, but hitherto has been understudied.
Lost in the noise? Narrative (re)presentation of higher education and research during the Brexit process in the UK
The article investigates how the considerations on higher education and research have been narratively represented in a public domain in the process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
Methodological nationalism and the Northern Ireland blind-spot in ethnic and racial studies
Northern Ireland (NI) has been one of the central issues in Brexit. Yet, it barely featured in the discussions in the run up to the EU Referendum in 2016. This blind-spot regarding NI has been a long-standing feature of social science research on the UK. This article examines the NI blind-spot…
Migrant Home Care Workers in the UK: a Scoping Review of Outcomes and Sustainability and Implications in the Context of Brexit
Migrant care workers play a significant role in meeting the escalating demand for social care in the UK. Workforce shortages create opportunities for new migrants to enter the social care workforce.