Untying the knot: Brexit and administrative disintegration in CFSP and CSDP structures

This article considers administrative disintegration in the EU’s CFSP and CSDP between the EU and the UK as caused by the Brexit process. In so doing, the article diverges from existing perspectives which consider Brexit’s large-scale effects on the EU’s foreign policy and instead emphasizes its impact on day-to-day administrative decision-making and policy activity. It is argued that the intergovernmental nature of these policies allowed the UK a prior selective participation in both policy areas, which is considered as a form of informal differentiated integration. This then partially mitigates the impact of formal disintegration on the administration of these policy areas.