Brexit Referendum Campaign and its Impact on the Public Voting Behaviour

Abstract

The present thesis, entitled “Brexit Referendum Campaign and its Impact on the Public Voting Behaviour”, explores the concepts of Euroscepticism, nationalism, cosmopolitanism and utilitarianism within the Brexit campaign speeches. These factors as a matter of fact, determined the vote choice in the Brexit referendum in relation to the European integration. The arguments of the Brexit campaign elites as well as the UK’s mass media coverage on the European Union affairs and policies played a significant role in determining the voters’ voting choice in the Brexit referendum. The Leave campaign delivered Eurosceptic narratives on European integration as this can be seen in both Boris Johnson’s speech “The Liberal Cosmopolitan Case to Vote Leave” and Nigel Farage’s speech “Nigel Farage MEP at Grassroots out launch in Kettering”. In these speeches, Johnson and Farage, focused on disruptive issues such as the loss of Britain’s sovereignty, the threat of immigration on wages, services, and on security. They also emphasized the impact of EU integration and Brexit on UK’s economy...