A Baffled Friend: EU-UK Relations from the Czech Perspective - with Monika Brusenbauch Meislová

A year after the UK withdrew from the structures of the European Single Market, the effects of Brexit are beginning to be felt. While the COVID19 pandemic and debates about the future of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland continue to overshadow political life within the UK, the reconfiguration of the UK's relationship with the EU has also had a profound effect on relations between the UK and each of the EU's member states.  For some EU member states such as Czechia, that had developed a strong working relationship with the UK over security and trade issues, the deterioration of relations between the EU and UK has been a source of frustration. Exploring the particular perspectives of an EU state like Czechia can help provide insights into how Brexit and the internal tensions within the UK Union are perceived in the rest of Europe.

To help examine how Czech society has responded to the changing relationship between the EU and the UK, in this week's episode we have been joined by Monika Brusenbauch Meislová. As Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Masaryk University,  she has developed fascinating research on how interactions between populism, technocracy and security have affected the politics of Czechia, the UK and other European states. This detailed analysis means Monika Brusenbauch Meislová is ideally placed to set out how Czechia and other EU states are responding to Brexit and wider challenges facing the UK.

The background music is by Through the City by Crowander, and the production for this podcast was by Daniel Mansfield.