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| New Interaction Field of the UK and the EU under the Retreat of Supra-nationalism——A Study on Migrants' Social Security Cooperation between the UK and the EU in the Post-Brexit Era |
| Wang Yingqi1,4 Liu Tao2,3,4 |
| 1.School of Political Science and Public Administration， Wuhan University， Wuhan 430072；2.School of Public Affairs， Zhejiang University， Hangzhou 310058；3.Center of Social Welfare and Governance， Zhejiang University， Hangzhou 310058；4.Institute of East Asian Studies， Duisburg-Essen University， Duisburg 47057 |
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Abstract Controversy around the welfare of migrants and sovereignty was the focus of the 2016 Brexit referendum. This paper argues that the accusation of ‘welfare free rider' towards migrants is a kind of ‘selective construction’， which neglects that migrants make positive financial contribution to the host country， and in the meanwhile they can only enjoy a ‘sub-citizen' treatment on the eligibility for benefits. Furthermore， what can properly explain why Brexit happens is that the retreat of supranationalism and the periodic return of nationalism have both constructed a Brexit atmosphere at the state， the party and the citizen level. Over the past 40 years， the UK and the EU have built a stable welfare field of migrants， ‘welfare de-boundary' and ‘welfare supranationalism' as the welfare habits (culture) have been infecting and internalizing all actors in this field for long times. Even if the UK withdraws from the EU in the future， the stickiness of welfare habits and the institutional traces left by the interaction arena between the UK and the EU will not disappear in vain. What's more， the resistance strategies of welfare recipients make it harder for the UK to close the co-governance welfare space completely. As a result， the UK cannot return to welfare nationalism in the post-Brexit era， instead， the UK and the EU will still work together to find a new welfare arrangement for migrants. And this may point to a new way of cooperation between the UK and the EU in the field of welfare and even at the national level— a coupling third way which hovers between nationalism and supranationalism， which also implies the new attempt of the UK to recalibrate its national identity and its international positioning.
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Received: 17 September 2020
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2020, Vol. 59 
