Book Review: Geoffrey Evans and Anand Menon, Brexit and British Politics
| Author | Simon Usherwood |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929918809342 |
| Published date | 01 August 2019 |
| Date | 01 August 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Review |
Political Studies Review
2019, Vol. 17(3) NP11 –NP12
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Commissioned Book Review
809342PSW0010.1177/1478929918809342Political Studies ReviewCommissioned Book Review
book-review2018
Commissioned Book Review
Brexit and British Politics by Geoffrey Evans
and Anand Menon. Cambridge: Polity Press,
2017, xvi + 149pp., £40.00 (h/k), ISBN: 978-1-
5095-2385-6
Of all the paradoxes that Brexit contains, one
of the lesser noticed is the tension between the
demand for research-led publications on an
issue of critical public interest and the realities
of academic publishing timelines. With a sub-
ject that can shift radically within days, even
hours, to risk publishing a work that might only
appear months after submission has been a
cause for concern for many publishers.
The result has been a relative paucity of
such titles, with the running instead being
filled by journalistic accounts of the 2016
European Union (EU) referendum and its
aftermath, or polemics written by politicians
and activists. While these offer some useful
insights, they lack the rigour and theoretically
informed input that research monographs can
provide.
It is thus fitting that one of the academics
who has done most to bring very rapid aca-
demic input to the public debate on Brexit
should be co-author of this current volume.
Anand Menon’s work with the Economic and
Social Research Council’s (ESRC) ‘UK in a
Changing Europe’ programme has shown what
is possible in bringing social science research
to bear on the political and media conversation,
and that experience clearly informs this vol-
ume with Geoffrey Evans, with his insights
from the British Election Study.
Evans and Menon’s approach to tackling
the rapid pace of events is twofold. First, there
is an unpacking of the deeper roots of public
opinion towards European integration, immi-
gration, and political disconnection, as well as
the (non-)responsiveness of political parties
thereto. As a summary overview, this serves to
highlight the core themes of the referendum
itself and the assorted logics behind peoples’
votes.
The second part of the approach is frame
the post-referendum period not in terms of
‘who said what’, but rather to explore how the
various tensions and dynamics identified ear-
lier shape the space in which the Brexit process
is unrolling. It is here that the work has perhaps
its greatest value, in avoiding the twists and
turns of the political battles and instead focus-
ing on the bigger structures and frameworks in
operation. The confidence with which the book
sets out its stall is impressive and warranted,
given Evans and Menon’s close engagement
with both the data sources and the evolving
debate. As the authors note in a short Afterword,
there is currently much bitterness and even poi-
son in British politics these days, and with so
many moving parts, it remains unclear where
this might all be leading.
While that conclusion has undoubtedly
stood the test of time since the book’s publi-
cation in late October 2017, the challenge
that sets academic research is all the more
difficult. In a highly contingent, systemic
rupture that has no obvious analogies else-
where, how does one gain purchase and build
a means of analysing and understanding what
is going on?
It is here that the more rounded approach
taken by Evans and Menon pays dividends.
The interplay of party politics and polling data
allows for a more considered evaluation than
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