"A Sea of Opportunity" - The Maritime Dimension of Brexit Narratives

Robert McCabe

doi:10.1007/s40152-025-00428-x

"A Sea of Opportunity" - The Maritime Dimension of Brexit Narratives

Robert McCabe

Research Centre for Peace and Security

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Brexit was a seismic political event. The narratives that shaped its outcome reveal much about contemporary Britain and its constituent political, socio-cultural, and historic values and identities. In particular, Brexit magnified the importance of the ocean as both an economic lifeline, but also a politically contested space with fisheries and immigration at the forefront of the debate. Despite the prominence of maritime narratives in the campaign and referendum, and the enduring political, economic and security importance of these issues in the subsequent negotiations, this dimension of Brexit has been largely overlooked in academic analysis. This article sheds new light on how and why coastal communities in particular perceived political choices in a certain manner and presents the findings of a new dataset that helps unpack some of the ways the maritime dimension of Brexit narratives underpinned the process.

Original language	English
Article number	33
Journal	Maritime Studies
Volume	24
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-025-00428-x
Publication status	Published - 8 May 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40152-025-00428-x

Funding

Support for this research was provided by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant [18033-01]

Funders	Funder number
British Academy
Leverhulme Trust	18033–01
Leverhulme Trust

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Brexit
Coastal environments
Electoral studies
Fisheries
Immigration
Maritime Governance
Marine and economic policy

Themes

Governance, Leadership and Trust
Security and Resilience
Migration (In)Equality and Belonging

Access to Document

10.1007/s40152-025-00428-x

McCabe2025AAMAccepted author manuscript, 867 KB

Occurrences of Maritime Phraseology in the Context of Brexit 2015-2022
McCabe, R. (Creator) & Davies, J. (Creator), Zenodo, 28 Mar 2024
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10890393, https://zenodo.org/records/10890393
Dataset

Cite this

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title = "{"}A Sea of Opportunity{"} - The Maritime Dimension of Brexit Narratives",

abstract = "Brexit was a seismic political event. The narratives that shaped its outcome reveal much about contemporary Britain and its constituent political, socio-cultural, and historic values and identities. In particular, Brexit magnified the importance of the ocean as both an economic lifeline, but also a politically contested space with fisheries and immigration at the forefront of the debate. Despite the prominence of maritime narratives in the campaign and referendum, and the enduring political, economic and security importance of these issues in the subsequent negotiations, this dimension of Brexit has been largely overlooked in academic analysis. This article sheds new light on how and why coastal communities in particular perceived political choices in a certain manner and presents the findings of a new dataset that helps unpack some of the ways the maritime dimension of Brexit narratives underpinned the process.",

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author = "Robert McCabe",

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AB - Brexit was a seismic political event. The narratives that shaped its outcome reveal much about contemporary Britain and its constituent political, socio-cultural, and historic values and identities. In particular, Brexit magnified the importance of the ocean as both an economic lifeline, but also a politically contested space with fisheries and immigration at the forefront of the debate. Despite the prominence of maritime narratives in the campaign and referendum, and the enduring political, economic and security importance of these issues in the subsequent negotiations, this dimension of Brexit has been largely overlooked in academic analysis. This article sheds new light on how and why coastal communities in particular perceived political choices in a certain manner and presents the findings of a new dataset that helps unpack some of the ways the maritime dimension of Brexit narratives underpinned the process.

KW - Brexit

KW - Coastal environments

KW - Electoral studies

KW - Fisheries

KW - Immigration

KW - Maritime Governance

KW - Marine and economic policy

U2 - 10.1007/s40152-025-00428-x

DO - 10.1007/s40152-025-00428-x

M3 - Article

SN - 1872-7859

VL - 24

JO - Maritime Studies

JF - Maritime Studies

IS - 2

M1 - 33

ER -

"A Sea of Opportunity" - The Maritime Dimension of Brexit Narratives

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Themes

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Datasets

Occurrences of Maritime Phraseology in the Context of Brexit 2015-2022

Cite this