Title: EU diplomacy after Brexit

Authors: Wilfried Bolewski

Addresses: Sciences Po Paris, 27 Rue Saint-Guillaume, 75007 Paris, France

Abstract: Brexit is the latest symptom of an international institutional failure to live up to public expectations. It is caused by the perception of unfulfilled participatory governance and lack of problem-solving capacities (immigration and financial crises, changing transnational identities, internal and external security) and it bears the seeds of further disintegration. Brexit has again revealed the lack of (not only institutional, but) mental preparedness of the linear mindset ('sleepwalking into crises') for the international management of disruptive events which will continue to be a regular feature and is becoming the new normality. Diplomacy and its civilising virtues (solidarity, subsidiarity, inclusion of the general public, acceptance of change as opportunity) could provide the practical values for a result-orientated mindset of problem-solving. For Diplomacy as social interaction to be successful in the context of Brexit we need innovative practical initiatives corresponding to public expectations leading to sustainable solutions and providing trust in a functional European Union.

Keywords: diplomacy's civilising virtues; diplomacy as social interaction; solidarity; subsidiarity; public support; cohesion; Europe of projects.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDIPE.2020.111011

International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, 2020 Vol.6 No.2, pp.109 - 120

Received: 31 Jan 2020
Accepted: 14 Mar 2020
Published online: 05 Nov 2020 *

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