Europhoria! : explaining Britain’s pro European moment, 1988-92

Abstract

British attitudes to “Europe” have been characterised as an “awkward partner” of “reluctant Europeans”. This article expounds a period in which Britain was Europe’s primary “proactive partner”, composed of highly “enthusiastic Europeans”. To explain this, it then proposes an expanded “calculation, cues, and community” theoretical framework using emotions, non-material calculations, and a dynamic understanding of “Europe”. Europhoria is thus explained using: (1) calculations driven by the emotional anticipation of “1992” and trust engendered by unrealised negative predictions raised during the 1975 referendum campaign; (2) proactive domestic European policy leading to harmonious, influential, insider status; (3) benchmarking of comparable, better performing European economies; and—the only factor remaining today—(4) newfound belief that Europe was Britain’s most important international community. Europhoria interplayed with a sense of European community stimulated by the fall of the Berlin Wall and unusually “European” British cultural trends in media, sports, and arts. The removal of most of these factors—often at pan-European level—explains the rapid British return to Euroscepticism thereafter.