How can we understand the role of internal politics in the negotiations about the future relationship between the UK and EC after the UK leaves the EU?

Sammanfattning: This thesis aims to examine the role that the internal politics of the UK and the EU has on their ability to act as leaders in the so-called Brexit negotiations. The study focuses in particular on issues related to the future trade relationship between the two parts. It builds on functionalist and rational institutionalist understandings of international institutions and assumes that the European commission is a supranational institution with an independent ‘actorness’. First the internal politics and the EU and the UK is examined, especially focusing on the level of agreement or disagreement between internal actors. Thereafter, different concepts of leadership developed by Arild Underdal and Oran Young is used to investigate how the level of internal cohesion affects both parts’ abilities to influence the negotiations through leadership. The study finds a high level of unity between the different EU institutions, while it finds a high level of disagreement on several issues within the British government. It is concluded that this influences the parties’ abilities to exercise effective leadership in several ways. As these negotiations at the current stage are on-going, this study does not make conclusions about the actors ability to influence the negotiation outcome. It focuses specifically on the negotiations as they took place within a limited timeframe between the 14th of February and 23rd of April 2018.