Political economy and the study of Britain and European integration: a global-national perspective

An extensive range of evidence and analysis has been employed to understand the complex
relationship between Britain and the process of European integration. This article builds on a body
of work within the study of European integration that examines British economic interests in
European policy-making. However, I show that a comprehensive explanation of this relationship
requires the application of a politico-economic analysis on national articulations of global and
transnational processes. It is, I propose, Britain’s distinctive insertion into the global economy that
enables us to understand and explain Britain’s problematic relationship to the processes of European
integration. This is explored through an analytic narrative of Britain’s historical relationship
to the process of European integration. From a broad comparative perspective, I emphasise the
exceptional character of Britain’s globalised political economy.