The Dialectic:

A) a method of examining and discussing opposing ideas to find the truth.

B) the dialectical tension or opposition between two interacting forces or elements.

C) the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions.

D) an inquiry into contradictions and their solutions.

Continuing my series of blogs on the dialectic—intended to act as introductions, simplifications, and teasers for my book—let us turn our attention to another issue we continue to face today: Brexit.

First, a little rewind is in order. To 1975... In that year, a referendum took place in the UK on whether to remain in the European Community (or the Common Market, as it was then called). Sixty-seven percent—on a 64 percent turnout—voted to remain. The majority of Conservative MPs also voted to remain, including leader Edward Heath and future notoriously Eurosceptic leader, Margaret Thatcher. The Labour Party, meanwhile, was split on the issue, though those on the more radical left generally voted to leave.

Now, let’s fast-forward to 2016. In that year, the UK voted on whether to stay in what was now called the European Union. This time, just under 52 percent—on a much higher 72 percent turnout—voted to leave. Now it was the Conservative Party that was fractured (56 percent of MPs voted to remain, 44 percent to leave), while the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs united around remaining.

Here is the dialectic in full effect. In just about every fact quoted above, we see a dialectical flip from one binary opposite to another. The party on the right became split by a sizeable anti-Europe minority; the party on the left became the vanguard of the remain camp.

There are countless layered reasons for this shift, which I unpack thoroughly in my book. But the vital point for this blog is that the traditional terms "left" and "right" have been dialectically negated to the point of redundancy.

This redundancy becomes deeply problematic when we try to move beyond the binaries of Leave and Remain to resolve the UK’s future relationship with Europe. Large elements of the media and the public still insist on using these outdated labels to stereotype Leave voters as strictly "right-wing" and Remain voters as "left-wing." This lazy categorization completely ignores the massive 40-year ideological reverse, along with the nuanced, complex reasons why both the public and politicians voted the way they did.

However, there is an elephant in the room that weighs heavily on the subject of Brexit and is completely intertwined with it. That is the topic of my next blog: The Dialectic of Immigration.