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A Liberal View of Post­Brexit Referendum on Regionalism Across Africa

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Sekou Toure Otondi in African Foreign Policy and Regional Integration

Wed, Jun 29, 2016

The decision of Britain to leave the EU, although can be viewed through a realist perspective, is not a threat to globalisation and regionalism.

Liberalism and idealism-two opposing forces

Well, the UK has decided to leave the European Union. The proponents of an independent UK, outside the 28
member regional bloc, carried the day with over 52% of votes cast, with 48% of the voters opting to remain. In the
run up to the referendum, as well as in its immediate aftermath, several issues, mostly revolving around
economy, immigration and sovereignty, propped in debates.

Nevertheless, underneath these issues, there seems to be two old age subterranean ideological forces that seek
to influence and shape the direction of not only the UK, and Europe, but to an extent our perception of
international relations. These two camps are basically realism and idealism. While liberalism is mainly in favour of
globalization and to an extent regional, idealism has always been more inclined towards the traditional
international political system, based on state sovereignty, and modelled along the 1648 Peace of Westphalia
treaty.

Liberalism still rules despite win by Brexit vote

Although the UK’s decision to quit the EU, from the outlook may indicate the triumph of idealism over idealism,
and can be perceived as a symbol of general dissatisfaction with globalization, the UK’s decision to quit the EU is
merely a hiccup in the regional integration processes. Regionalism, as a product of globalization hinged on
liberal ideology, is on a cruise across the globe and seems unstoppable. This is especially true in Africa, where
regional integration efforts are actively being pursued at the sub-regional and regional levels. Regional
integration efforts on the continent are being seen as a panacea for economic, political and security challenges
facing Africa. To pitch for liberalism, as an ideological foundation of globalization and to an extent regional
integration in Africa, within the context of the recent UK referendum on its relations with the EU, we need to look
at urbanisation and youths as the two main parameters that drives globalisation forward.

Urbanisation and youths as drivers of regional integration

Urbanisation; the voting patterns in the concluded UK referendum were skewed with regard to rural and urban
populations. The majority of voters in rural areas, reportedly overwhelmingly voted for an exit, as compared to
most voters in cosmopolitan large centres across Britain. For instance in London, over 62% of voters backed the
need for closer ties with EU. This indicates that more people living in urban centres have a positive outlook at
globalization, compared to rural folks. The impact of these statistics indicates that the future of regionalism on
the continent is bright. This is basically due to the indicators that illustrate an upward trend of rural-urban
migration across the continent.

Africa has experienced the highest urban growth during the last two decades at 3.5% per year and this rate of
growth is expected to hold into 2050, with projections indicating that between 2010 and 2025, some of African
cities will account for up to 85% of total population. As the population of towns and cities expand across the
continent, most residents are likely to pick up the urban global culture. Hence, majority Africans are less likely to
define themselves on the basis of national identities, and more along with global identities. Thus like in the UK
context there is likely to be more support for regional integration efforts as rural urban migration expands.

Age; secondly, in the UK referendum, majority of young voters, up to 75%, between the ages of 18 and 34,
mainly voted for the UK to remain within the EU. However, older UK citizens voted to quit the union. It’s highly
likely that these young people, who are the future policy decision makers, and in favour of globalization are likely
to pursue policies and constitutional procedures that favours regional integration. Africa, with a huge population
of young people that is growing rapidly, with over a half aged below 20 years, are more inclined towards
supporting globalization and its related trends.

Identity politics defined Brexit vote not realism

In conclusion, the role of urbanisation and youths in globalization, in addition to the interconnected nature of the
global financial system, will continue to make globalization and its ramifications, such as regional integration, at
least in economic and cultural sense, a strong ideological base for explaining the dominance of liberal ideology
in the study of international relations. As long as urbanisation continues to grow, and the global financial and
trading systems continue to widen and deepen its tentacles to the remotest parts of the globe, more people,
especially younger members of the population, will continue to share a common culture.

The decision of Britain to leave the EU, although can be viewed through a realist perspective, is not a threat to
globalisation and regionalism. This is true especially within an economic and cultural standpoint. The voting
trends in the UK referendum thus seems to have more been informed by identity politics, and less with realities
of regional political economy of UK vis a vis the European Union.

United Kingdom   EAC   European Union   Regional Integration   Globalization

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About the author
Sekou Toure Otondi , African Foreign Policy and Regional Integration
PhD candidate from the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi

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