On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom (UK) Government notified the European Council (EC) of its intention to withdraw from the European Union (EU) legal order. On 31 January 2020, the UK entered a transition period, during which it remains bound to the EU Treaty Framework. This review essay examines the near three-year period of the UK’s attempted cessation from the EU (Brexit). It argues that what is most striking about the Brexit case is that it reveals the extent to which EU member states remain bound by ideologies and tropes developed during the era of European colonisation—even in their relationship with each other. The review essay draws upon Brenna Bhandar’s Colonial lives of property: Law, Land and racial regimes of ownership, Danny Dorling and Sally Tomlinson’s Rule Britannia: Brexit and the end of empire , and Eva Mackey’s Unsettled expectations: Uncertainty, land and settler decolonization to show how Brexit bears upon themes that have long preoccupied postcolonial scholars working in a variety of contexts and geographical locations. From the Brexit example, the review article highlights the persistence of colonial projects of (re)invention and the appropriative techniques and tropes that attend these and, above all, it highlights the necessity of decolonial violence.

中文翻译：

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冲突中的欧洲帝国：英国退欧年代

2017 年 3 月 29 日，英国（UK）政府通知欧洲理事会（EC）其有意退出欧盟（EU）法律秩序。2020 年 1 月 31 日，英国进入过渡期，在此期间它仍受欧盟条约框架的约束。这篇评论文章考察了英国试图退出欧盟（英国退欧）的近三年时间。它认为，英国退欧案最引人注目的地方在于，它揭示了欧盟成员国在多大程度上仍受欧洲殖民时代发展起来的意识形态和比喻的约束——即使是在它们彼此的关系上。评论文章借鉴了 Brenna Bhandar 的殖民地财产生活：法律、土地和种族所有权制度，Danny Dorling 和 Sally Tomlinson 的 Rule Britannia：英国退欧和帝国的终结，和 Eva Mackey 的未解决的期望：不确定性、土地和定居者的非殖民化展示了英国退欧如何影响长期以来在各种背景和地理位置工作的后殖民学者关注的主题。从英国脱欧的例子来看，这篇评论文章强调了（再）发明的殖民项目的持续存在以及伴随这些项目的专有技术和比喻，最重要的是，它强调了非殖民化暴力的必要性。