Events

Brexit: a failed project in a failing state?

Hosted by the Conflict and Civicness Research Group

MAR1.04, Marshall Building

Speakers

Danny Dorling

Halford Mackinder Professor, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

Zoe Williams

Guardian journalist

Chair

Luke Cooper

Associate Professorial Research Fellow in International Relations, LSE IDEAS

Brexit has failed – and the sorry story of how we got here is a symptom of a broken society, one wrapped up in nostalgia for an imagined past and unable to address the numerous genuine problems of the 21st century. That’s the argument of Oxford University professor Danny Dorling in his provocative new report, Brexit: a failed project in a failing state.

Surveying key data indicators, Dorling looks at the possible winners and losers from Brexit. He acknowledges the degree of uncertainty – and the numerous overlapping and intertwined factors that shape the United Kingdom of today. His conclusion is that while Brexit has failed to address any of the substantive challenges of the day, it was not a ‘year zero’ for the many problems facing the United Kingdom and, in fact, reflected decades of public policy failure.

At this lecture, Dorling will present his findings followed by a discussion.

Speakers

Danny Dorling (@dannydorling) is the Halford Mackinder Professor in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Inequality and the 1%, third edition published in autumn 2019. His most recent book is Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of A Failing State (Verso Books, 2023). His report, Brexit: a failed project in a failing state? is published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.

Zoe Williams (@zoesqwilliams) is a Guardian journalist, the author of Get It Together: Why We Deserve Better Politics (Hutchinson, 2016) and the co-host of the Another Europe Is Possible podcast.

Chair

Luke Cooper (@lukecooper100) is an Associate Professorial Research Fellow in International Relations at LSE IDEAS, LSE's in-house foreign policy think tank and director of PeaceRep's Ukraine programme. He is a co-host of the Another Europe podcast, and presented Between Dream and Tragedy; Europe's Story After 1989, a six-part podcast documentary on European history. His book Authoritarian Contagion: The Global Threat to Democracy was published by Bristol University Press in 2021.

More about this event

The Conflict and Civicness Research Group (@LSE_CCRG) is part of LSE IDEAS, the foreign policy think tank for the London School of Economics and Political Science. This event is organised by the LSE CCRG in partnership with the educational foundation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and the campaign group, Another Europe Is Possible. It reflects the commitment of LSE CCRG to providing a platform for challenging debate and new ideas.