Faculty Research Forum: Christopher Hill
April 2, 2019
Christopher Hill, Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
Alice Pannier, Assistant Professor of European Studies
Moderated by Kent Calder, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and International Research Cooperation and Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies
The Faculty Research Forum hosted a talk with Dr. Christopher Hill to discuss his new book “The Future of British Foreign Policy: Security and Diplomacy in a World after Brexit.” Hill contended that history has guided, and will continue to guide, the course of international relations. He pointed to the financial crisis of 1992 with the decline of the British pound, and how it had shaped the rest of the EU. Similarly, he noted that the UK’s current crisis will have grand repercussions, creating a “half-European” society.
The panel also discussed the immediate implications of Brexit on the European Union: the loss of a major contributor to the EU budget, the loss of vital members of the UN Security Council, and the need to find replacements to cover European defense and security policy.
Assessing the wider impact of Brexit on world affairs, the panelists noted that the UK’s relations with great powers like the U.S., China, and Russia will inevitably shift, creating a more challenging environment for the UK. Hill suggested that Brexit will ultimately introduce a disturbance in the European relationships, friction in the world order, and higher transactions costs in the system without accomplishing much of its intended goals.