Boris Johnson addresses the media during the Leave campaign. Photo: Stefan Rousseau / PA Wire/PA. All rights reserved.Pivotal moments can produce an intense heat, capable of bending a country’s politics. In this context, the European referendum was always a worrying prospect. It looked from the outset like it would dissolve into a debate between UKIP and the Confederation of British Industry; an argument about whether it was more important to cut migration or inflate big businesses; a tiff between cosmopolitan neoliberalism and British neo-conservatism, which would shine a spotlight on both whilst leaving any other perspectives to wilt.
The media as a whole seemed likely to reflect a rough balance between the two options on the ballot paper. But it seemed clear from the very beginning that those arguments for both sides which would come to dominate would be those which, on the one hand, opposed openness, and, on the other, cared little for democracy. Being a website committed to both of those things, this prospect concerned us deeply.
The aim of our coverage on openDemocracy was to wander off that narrow path, and hope to take at least some of the conversation with us; to shine a torch into different corners of argument and illuminate other conversations; and to contribute to the discussion about how to build a democratic Europe.
