This book provides a study on the impact of Brexit on international competitiveness and in
doing so presents a theoretical account of regional disintegration. In recent decades the
theory of regional economic integration has expanded following growing integration processes
taking place not only in Europe but in other continents too. The result of the EU Referendum
in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016 revealed that regional integration does not have to be a
one-way process as was perceived for many years. Despite well-developed models of economic
integration within economic theory there still lacks an analytical explanation of the
mechanics of disintegration. For many years integration was commonly perceived as a beneficial
process and while disintegration is not desirable this led to normative bias in the research
on regional integration. This book therefore makes an important contribution to theoretical
and empirical developments of regional economic disintegration.
