Northern Ireland

08
Mar
2022

Post-Brexit Northern Ireland: Between Two Unions

Abstract

The UK’s withdrawal from the EU posed a significant challenge to the progress that had been achieved in Northern Ireland –one of the most impoverished post-conflict societies in Europe. Brexit could raise significant frictions along the territorial border between the two sides of Ireland and its all-island economy. If the UK had decided to remain in the single market and the EU customs union after Brexit, the vast majority of these challenges would have been avoided. However, since Theresa May’s Lancaster House speech, it became clear that the UK would not be part of the single market and the customs union after Brexit took place. So, the negotiations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU were haunted by an almost unsolvable riddle.  How could the UK and the EU keep the Irish border free of any physical infrastructure without jeopardising the integrity of the EU single market?

 

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Posted by Nikos Skoutaris in Case Studies, 0 comments
17
Feb
2020

Northern Ireland and the Antimonies of Unionism

Abstract

Unionism swept back to power in the United Kingdom in December 2019 in a new Conservative government whose Prime Minister is also Minister for the Union. It committed itself to swift withdrawal from the European Union, with the likely effect of weakening the Union with Scotland and with Northern Ireland. Meanwhile unionism in Northern Ireland – in the form of the Democratic Unionist Party – has already undermined the union by its support for – and eventual betrayal by – hard-line British Conservatism. Why unionisms – which promise progressive and flexible politics – have such effects is the topic of this article. (This is the theme of a Special Issue of Irish Political Studies, edited by Jennifer Todd and Dawn Walsh, to be published in 2020. See Todd 2019).

 

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Posted by Jennifer Todd in Case Studies, 0 comments
25
Nov
2019

Northern Ireland: Power-Sharing in Crisis

Abstract

In spite of numerous suspensions in its initial years, nationalist and unionist parties shared power for an uninterrupted 10 years from 2007-17. At the time of writing, however, Northern Ireland finds itself in a seemingly intractable political crisis, produced by both internal and external factors, and the future of power-sharing hangs in the balance. The impasse underlines the need for broad inclusion in power-sharing arrangements, beyond the core ethno-national parties. It further speaks to the importance of continued constructive engagement from external actors, who were central to the conflict and remain central to its resolution.

 

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Posted by Cera Murtagh in Case Studies, Federalism and Conflict, 0 comments
14
Jan
2019
Is there a Federal Solution to the UK’s Constitutional Conundrum?

Is there a Federal Solution to the UK’s Constitutional Conundrum?

Abstract

Federalism in the UK has long had promoters and detractors: a radical but fitting solution to the UK’s asymmetry or a European plot to infiltrate the historic British tradition of parliamentary sovereignty? In the last two decades, with the advent of devolution, the extension of European influence through the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Eurozone, the devolution of further powers, the Scottish independence referendum, and the decision to leave the European Union, constitutional questions have been to the fore of UK politics. For some, this means federalism’s time has come – though for others it remains unworkable in the UK’s complex constitutional setting.  This article explores why federalism remains an idea – albeit a minority one – which maintains interest among UK politicians, and concludes that the problems levelled against a federal UK continue to be unsurmountable.

 


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Posted by Malcolm Harvey in Case Studies, 0 comments