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Abstract The Brexit referendum is a ″general history″ event with profound and lasting impact. It is a multi-dimension ″general history″ impacting politics, economy, society in the long term, which means it is neither a mid-term ″situation history,″ nor a short-term ″event history.″ The event highlights the democratic theory of Habermas who advocates European integration. Brexit and Habermas's theory form a gaming between theory and practice. The former needs the academic proof of the latter and the latter needs the practice of Brexit. The democratic practice of Brexit shatters Habermas's democratic theory of ″reasonable design.″ In terms of logical origin, the ″post-national″ structure shapes the ″super-national community″ that fails to break the limits of the democratic ″nation.″ Habermas's deliberative political mode cannot mediate the macro-EU and the micro-Britain. In terms of logical fulcrum, discourse ethics lays the theoretical foundation for European inner identity, but in practice, it cannot get rid of the contract consideration and interests balance between countries. The democratic legitimacy based on Habermas's discourse negotiation cannot replace EU's ethical reasonability based on common history, so the Britain referendum means the judgement of value grounded merely on interests. In terms of logical basic points, the fate of human beings is theoretically decided by the referendum, but in practice it can hardly cope with the irrationality and unconsciousness of collective choice. The self-determined democracy of Habermas, which is based on empiricism can not choose the objective truth; it can only come to the acceptable compromising conditions for the goals of different parties. The referendum degraded elites into politicians, and voters into cynics. The rationality of contract in the public domain of politics was replaced by the economic self-interests in the private domain, and the ethical rationality was absent when the vacant shell of EU tried to provide solid support for moral validity. The Brexit referendum witnessed Habermas's failure in reconciling democracy with capitalism. Habermas stressed the need to criticize instrumental rationality instead of undertaking radical social criticism and reform. As he pointed human liberation toward communicative rationality rather than the liberation of non-productive relationship, the referendum would doubtlessly be controlled by populism, which could neither bring welfare to British citizens nor brighten the future for the EU. The Brexit referendum showed the real crisis of European democracy and revealed the inherent paradox of Habermas's democratic theory. The event is bound to expand its influence, not only retorting his theory, but also questioning the so-called universal values featuring democracy, justice, freedom and equality. Brexit has proved Habermas's theory to be hollow and nihilistic, while Habermas's theory has proved the referendum of Britain ridiculous, blind and unexplainable. If we do not eliminate the existing capitalist system of modernity, either the Brexit referendum or the democratic theory of Habermas is no solution and is invalid.
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