Introduction

This chapter presents the book’s main purpose, explains why that is important and relevant, and briefly outlines the book’s contents. The main purpose is to increase our understanding of the relationship between the EU and its affiliated non-member states, the implications of such relationships for different policy areas, and, based on these insights, extract lessons for the UK. For this purpose, we, on the one hand, focus on the triangular relationship between Norway, the UK, and the EU. After Brexit, these three relationships-those between Norway and the EU, the EU and the UK, and Norway and the UK-are not static but may change in relation to each other. On the other hand, we develop an analytical framework that helps to shed new light on EU-third country relations under conditions of complex interdependence. Key here is the concept of autonomy, which refers to having choices and an ability to will choices. The book aims to fill an important gap in the literature: to clarify the nature of and the conditions for autonomy in a context of complex interdependence. To capture the nature and scope for autonomy under such conditions of binding international collaboration, the book develops a subcategory of autonomy, which we label wriggle-room.