Evolution of the UK's Brexit Negotiation Strategy

In this Master's thesis, we investigate the transformation of the approaches and positions of the United Kingdom in the negotiation process with the European Union to conclude a deal on leaving the EU. The high relevance of the study is primarily due to the fact that the United Kingdom plays a significant role in the European project, the future of which depends, among other aspects, on the outcome of negotiations with it. The author argues that the UK strategy in the two-year Brexit negotiation process with the EU has evolved from a “hard” to a “soft” version, and the main reasons for this were considerable internal political contradictions in the United Kingdom itself. Special attention is paid to the assessment of key negotiation documents - the Agreement and the Political Declaration. The paper is mostly based on a comprehensive comparative analysis of primary sources such as negotiating documents, British legislation on Brexit, interviews with British and European politicians, as well as data from the largest public opinion polling agencies.