Abstract
Few events demand a wholesale reset of key policies. But Brexit is one of them. The foreign policy challenges arising for both Britain and its European partners are considerable. Foreign policy is something of a paradox. Scholars are taught about the long-standing axioms of statehood, and schooled in the age-old verities of conflict and cooperation. Pragmatic policies, as Kissinger reminds us, ‘must be based on some fixed principles in order to prevent tactical skill from dissipating into a random thrashing about’ (Kissinger 1994, 98). Policymakers, however, operate on rather less fixed requirements of cost– benefit analysis and strategy construction, often requiring swift changes in the practice of statecraft.