UK’s withdrawal from Justice and Home Affairs: a historical institutionalist analysis of policy trajectories

Contrary to the idea that ‘Brexit means Brexit’, the article demonstrates that, in spite of leaving the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, the UK is not automatically seeking to distance itself from the EU’s activities and approaches to these policy fields. Using the concepts of disengagement, continued engagement and re-engagement and drawing from historical institutionalism, the article further clarifies that present and future trajectories of UK positions in respect of the EU action are conditioned by a path dependence created by the evolution of UK opt-ins and opt-outs in this field, by the politicisation of the Brexit negotiations in the context of the UK–EU relations and by domestic UK politics. We explore this argument across three policy areas: (1) police and judicial cooperation, (2) immigration, borders and asylum, and (3) cybersecurity.