Foreword: "Life is going to be different in the Future"

The result of the EU referendum of June 2016 sent a shockwave through Europe as Europeans found that the British voting public had narrowly rejected continued membership of the European Union. Well before campaigning for the referendum opened, as a journal focused on European research and one of the journals of the University Association of Contemporary Europe Studies (UACES), the editors of JCER felt a responsibility to ensure that a topical response to the results – whatever they might have been - were heard. In the first of a new initiative by JCER (to publish a special section on an issue of topicality for Europe and those who research it) this final issue of 2016 features a special section dedicated to delivering some understanding of the reasons for the EU referendum, the inherent processes, the politicking and the voting choices.