June 23, 2016, a referendum was held and 51.9% of voters agreed that Britain should leave the EU, and the deadline was set on March 29, 2019 (Kirby 2019). Later on, Brexit was rescheduled on April 12, 2019, and currently is postponed until October 31, 2019, after Prime Minister Theresa May asked for another extension (Kirby 2019). Different people hold different attitudes towards Brexit. Some people agree that Brexit can solve the UK-EU relationship once and for all, reducing conflicts. Others, however, show their concerns that Brexit might potentially bring disastrous consequences to the UK and the EU. In this paper, firstly, the historical background of the UK-EU relationship will be unveiled and discussed. Then, a thorough analysis of Brexit’s short-term and long-term influences on regional and international relations, especially the UK-EU relationship, will be provided with different aspects.
Complicated as it may appear, the relationship between the UK and the EU has been controversial throughout history. During the World Wars, Prime Minister Winston Churchill emphasized that Britain’s involvement was about defending against Nazi tyranny and saving world peace instead of protecting Europe only (Nugent 2019). At that time, countries in Western Europe hoped to form stronger ties between neighbors so as to prevent future wars and maintain world peace. Also, David Mitrany (1966) mentioned a functionalist theory of integration, supporting that greater interdependence in the form of transnational ties between countries could lead to peace.1 However, Britain was not intended to join the EU (Nugent 20...