Trade connections’ effect on European regions’ interest in Brexit
| Author | Robert Urbatsch |
| DOI | 10.1177/1465116519871619 |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Letter |
Letter
Trade connections’ effect
on European regions’
interest in Brexit
Robert Urbatsch
Department of Political Science, Iowa State University,
Ames, IA, USA
Abstract
The European Union’s deepening of international economic integration might be
expected to correspondingly increase interest in policy (and news) related to trade
partners. The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the organization through invocation
of Article 50 offers a par ticularly clear case for such potential effects, since it directly
implicates the relevant economic ties. Yet, evidence from Google searches shows no
such effect: European regions that particularly rely on trade with the United Kingdom
devote no greater share of their search requests to Brexit-related topics, whether
because the public is unaware of local trade linkages or uninterested in the other
parties involved.
Keywords
Brexit, international trade, public attention, regions, transnationalism
The European Union (EU) has aspired to use trade to foster connections and
fellow feeling across international boundaries, thereby reducing conflict through
reshaping of residents’ attitudes and identities (Fligstein, 2008; Freund and
Ornelas, 2010). But does trade really have these intended political effects? The
United Kingdom’s protracted attempts to depart the organization provide new
Corresponding author:
Robert Urbatsch, Department of Political Science, Iowa State University, 527 Farm House Lane, Ames, IA
50011-1054, USA.
Email: rurbat@iastate.edu
European Union Politics
2020, Vol. 21(1) 173–179
!The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1465116519871619
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