Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies
Scientific Journal

Reclaiming the Self: Ontological Insecurity and Britain's Withdrawal from the EU

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Siavash Chavoshi

Assistant Professor, Department of European Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/wsps.2026.394544.1513
Abstract
This paper explores the factors that drove the UK to leave the EU in 2016. This research delves into the interplay between a sense of ontological insecurity and the actions of British Leave campaigners in the decision to exit the EU. By focusing on the UK's economic losses, this article highlights how Leave campaigners promoted the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU as a means of regaining ontological security and reinforcing Britain's desired identity as an independent nation. By analyzing over 25 speeches from a diverse group of Leave campaign activists using NVivo software (frequency analysis), this article shows that the UK's decision to leave the EU was also influenced by a social desire for ontological security. When the desire for ontological security was not sufficiently acknowledged by the EU, Britain's departure should be captured as a strategy to alleviate its social anxieties. This paper will utilize the theoretical framework developed mostly by Steele’s conception of ontological security as the preservation of a stable self-identity and moral self-narrative through a content analysis method. These concepts contribute to explaining why states often behave in unconventional ways, even when they jeopardize their material interests, to manage their sense of ontological insecurity.

Keywords

Brexit
EU
identity
ontological insecurity
UK
self
Subjects
Journal of World Sociopolitical Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 17 October 2026

  • Receive Date 14 July 2026
  • Revise Date 01 September 2026
  • Accept Date 17 October 2026

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