At the root of this question is, has globalism succeeded? Or, has globalism failed? Globalism in economic terms post-WW2 starts with Bretton Woods and US Dollar reserve currency status and from there to Petro Dollar hegemony post the Nixon shock and the US coming off the gold standard. Then one sees NAFTA and the move to the latest raft of Trade deals CETA, TTP, TTIP ISDS etc. The world has become a centralised and corporatised financialised oligopoly complex and the EU is an institution that has lead the charge for greater centralisation and Financialisation.

The political motivation behind the economic institutions of globalisation has drifted towards the Neo Liberal concepts of Public Choice theory set out by Buccannan and others and enthusiastically followed by Mrs Thatcher, Later Lady Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the US. Famously the test bed for these ideas was Chile and Pinochet’s regime, ideas of consumer freedom of choice and democratic freedom were conflated and civic society and national identity became obstacles to the ideals of freedom of movement of Capital and Human Capital(Labour). The EU has followed this path and the UK and US have both followed this path regardless of which flavour of the two flavour government systems were in power.

Over this same period, a narrative of elitism and of an international elite has also materialised. A good example of this is British Football where the Premier League has lead to a spectacle of Branded Club football with a host of international superstars being richly rewarded, whilst the Fortunes of the English National side have continued to decline. The recent European Championships where the Welsh team did so well was offered by some as an example of how the concentration on Private interests over national interests can lead to a diminution of overall national performance. Wales with its local national identity doing so much better than the cosmopolitan English team. At a UK level, there has developed a two-speed dis-united kingdom and Europe is also a Two Speed collective, with Germany in high gear and the momentum of the remaining 27, soon to be 26 bleeding into the German irresistible gravity.

If one looks at the United States one sees the conflict between state power and federal power and the ideals of subsidiarity caste into the constitution, the latest reminder of this principle was the Electoral college and President elect Trumps not winning the national popular vote. The Increased federalisation and centralisation of political power in the EU renders it by definition less sensitive to feedbacks from the parts remote from the centre or with less Economic Clout. This tendency of power structures to hoard power to themselves and centralise is what the Electoral college was designed to counter and no such balance has materialised in the EU or indeed at the UK level although Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have all achieved levels of national parliamentary control of aspects of their home government. Importantly money remains centralised which is a fundamental restriction of true political freedom and autonomy.
The parallels are striking between the US experience over its almost two and a half centuries and the EU over its last quarter of a century. Maastricht seems to be the great cut off point with the ERM following to the EURO and a move toward what is called,´´ever closer union ´´

The EU is credited amongst other things with bringing an end to the warring between European states. The benefits of the EU include this claim of a peace dividend but also a claim with respect to increased European prosperity. Arguments are presented on either side of the argument and it is possible to define one´s own measures of success and fit one’s arguments to any number of pre-conceived conclusions. The procrustean arguments adopted by both sides in the Brexit question are a testament to the Political nature of the beast. Economics does not exist outside of politics and Economics is correctly and should always be referred to as political economy. In Political Economy we see the truth that Economic interests are not uniform and universal and economic and political institutions create a landscape agreeable to its most important patrons, sadly in both the UK & The US The EU and across what is called the Washington Consensus the important patrons are not ordinary citizens but Elite Citizens and corporate private interests. The very monetary system which provides the score keeping tokens of interpersonal and international promises of exchange is a system which sees Private for profit banks creating 97% of the currency(money) out of nothing, this aspect of the Euro and also of the Pound Stirling and US dollar bears closer examination in considering this question.

I believe that the disruption represented by Brexit and of the president elect Trump’s election in the US will prove to be the identifiable point at which the failures of Global Financialised Capitalism and neo liberal political economy became openly exposed. The main stream media and its corporate biases could no longer cancel out the voices of dissenting political and economic voices. Heterodox Economic voices which have prevailed in the intellectual examination of the political and economic theories of Hayek, Buccannan and still form the political ideological basis of both the EU and the present UK government under Mrs May , have been proven empirically to have failed and to have failure baked into the cake, see Steve Keens work on Minsky and economic alternatives to neo liberalism also see Richard Werner on debt based money creation, particularly this paper. Can banks individually create money out of nothing? – The theories and the empirical evidence .

To cut a long story short to effect change a majority has to vote for change in Brexit and in Trumps election, we have seen such a vote. As another comment notes the EU has shown and still shows no appetite to change itself from with in. DIEM 25 seeks to reform the EU from within, Brexit seems not to have provided even the admission that some change is necessary, doubling down and obstinacy seem to be the default reaction to any democratic ´´naiveté´´(intended sarcasm), expressed at ballot boxes. Germany and France have elections next year we will see how the outcomes of those elections turn out. Brexit is a good idea because reform of the Political/Economic system is urgently required to effect change a proportion of the population must believe change is possible and indeed necessary.
I did a blog on the change equation which develops that idea. https://notthegrubstreetjournal.com/2016/11/07/anthroprogenic-political-climate-change-die-hard-blowhards-and-media-presstitutes-global-level-extinction-event-nov-8-2016/” rel=”noopener nofollow” target=”_blank”>Anthroprogenic Political Climate Change. DIe Hard Blowhards and Media Presstitutes , Global Level Extinction Event. NOV 8 2016