In this conversation with Professor Holden we examine how the EU exercised power during Brexit, interrogating the interplay of communication, institutional structures and rhetorical strategy. We discuss surprising findings on structural power, the negotiation styles of Barnier and De Rynck, and the reforms the EU’s external action apparatus may need to preserve influence into 2025.
Content
- Why link the EU with hegemony? A Neo-Gramscian view
- EU power during Brexit: communication and political actions
- Structural power: how EU institutions shaped Brexit
- Surprising findings on EU structural power
- EU values vs. interests: norms as a tool of influence
- UK rejection of EU principles and vulnerabilities of integration
- Who understood vulnerabilities better: the EU or the UK?
- Researching vulnerabilities as a scholar
- Barnier, De Rynck, and rhetorical strategies in Brexit talks
- Power balance in EU–UK negotiations
- Barnier and De Rynck: communication styles and strategy
- Lessons from Barnier and De Rynck’s negotiation styles
- Why rhetoric matters: qualitative insights on EU hegemony
- Have scholars studied Brexit enough?
- Brexit’s impact on EU relations with non-members
- Should the EU’s External Action Service gain more power?
- Brexit as a test of EU hegemonic resilience
- EU hegemony in the shadow of US hegemony
- What EU hegemony needs in 2025
Patrick Holden
Dr. Patrick Holden is an Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Plymouth, where he leads the Online Master’s programme in International Relations: Security and Development.
His research focuses on the European Union’s external relations, international political economy, and development policy. Widely published and active in policy debates, he brings both academic depth and practical insight to questions of Europe’s global role and the future of international order.
Selected Publications:
Holden, P. (2016). In Search of Structural Power. Routledge eBooks. Informa. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315588148.
Holden, P. (2020). Irreconcilable Tensions? The EU’s Development Policy in an Era of Global Illiberalism. EU International Development Cooperation post-2020, 16(2), pp.101–119. doi:https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v16i2.1073.
Holden, P. (2025). What kind of hegemony? The European Union in its region. Journal of European Integration, pp.1–18. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2025.2503216.
Holden, P. (2023) Strongholds of Liberalism? The Reaction of Regional Integration Institutions to the Pandemic Trade Crisis. The International Spectator, 58(4), pp. 128–148. doi: 10.1080/03932729.2023.2236853.
🎧 Stream Now
Apple Podcasts
Amazon Music
Spotify
