The Irish Border

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Komarova ◽  
Katy Hayward
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

The emergence, development, and transformation of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland reveals much about the changing nature of nation-statehood over the century that followed its creation. In its own way, it is also a subject of innovation. The three interrelated strands of relationships safeguarded by the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement of 1998 in many ways define the border. These relationships run within and between the two islands of Ireland and Britain, and also between the two political traditions in Northern Ireland. Nationalists and Unionists have come to define much of their ethos in relation to the symbolic meaning of the Irish border: The former want the border removed and the latter see the border as necessary to keep Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. This helps to understand the prominence given to the Irish border in the context of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), as well as the controversy around the terms of the U.K.–EU Withdrawal Agreement, which changed the nature of the relationship between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom as well as between Northern Ireland and Ireland. As a consequence of Brexit, the future of borders in and around Ireland—their openness and their governance—will be inevitably shaped by the vicissitudes of the EU–U.K. relationship.

The British–Irish Council and Devolution

1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon Bogdanor
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The Other ◽  
National State ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
The Government

THE BRITISH-IRISH COUNCIL SPRINGS FROM AND IS PROVIDED FOR IN the Belfast Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998. Its coming into force depends upon the implementation of the Agreement. The Council is established, however, not by the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, which gives legislative expression to the bulk of this Agreement, but by an international treaty, the British–Irish Agreement, attached to the Belfast Agreement.The Belfast Agreement together with the legislation providing for devolution to Scotland and Wales establishes a new constitutional settlement, both among the nations which form the United Kingdom, and also between those nations and the other nation in these islands, the Irish nation. The United Kingdom itself is, as a result of the Scotland Act and the Government of Wales Act, in the process of becoming a new union of nations, each with its own identity and institutions – a multi-national state, rather than, as many of the English have traditionally seen it, a homogeneous British nation containing a variety of different people.

scholarly journals Wightman et al. v. Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 799-805
Author(s):  
Danae Azaria
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Member State ◽  
European Council ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Eu

The CJEU held that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) is allowed to unilaterally revoke the notification of its intention to withdraw from the European Union (EU) as long as the revocation is submitted in writing to the European Council before the UK's withdrawal takes effect, and as long as the revocation is “unequivocal and unconditional, that is to say that the purpose of that revocation is to confirm the EU membership of the member state concerned under terms that are unchanged as regards its status as a member state, and that revocation brings the withdrawal procedure to an end” (para. 74).

scholarly journals Potencjalny wpływ brexitu na ustrój terytorialny i integralność Zjednoczonego Królestwa Wielkiej Brytanii i Irlandii Północnej

2020 ◽  
Vol 6(161) ◽  
pp. 117-143
Author(s):  
Viktoria Serzhanova ◽  
Adrianna Kimla
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
New Order ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union is undoubtedly an unprecedented event in the history of the EU. This process encounters many difficulties and reveals an increasing number of problems that contemporary Europe is facing and affects European integration. Even more complications in this area arise as a result of the deadlock in the internal dimension, and in the UK’s relations with the EU. It goes without saying, that this process will result in the need to create a completely new order in the UK’s relations with the EU and will have a huge impact on the global order. The whole process is multidimensional, hence the consequences of leaving the EU by the United Kingdom may have many effects for the UK not only in political and economic sense, but also in the field of its constitutional law and political system, including the area of the state’s territorial arrangement. The purpose of this study is to provide a legal analysis of Brexit’s potential consequences for the territorial system and threats to the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom itself, in particular for the status of its constituent parts and further relations between England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. The risk of the split and disintegration of the United Kingdom as a result of Brexit cannot be overlooked.

scholarly journals The Status of Northern Ireland after Brexit: Probable Models

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
Serhii Rudko
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Customs Union ◽  
German Version ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Eu

The article highlights one of the main issues related to the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, Northern Ireland’s new status, in particular, the status of the border between NI and the Republic of Ireland. It has been an ‘apple of discord’ from the first stage and during the last stage of the Brexit negotiations. The future ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Irish-British border is not a problem in the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union only, but is also a serious domestic political challenge for Theresa May’s government. The article explains possible models of the future status of Northern Ireland. The most probable solutions are: a ‘reverse Greenland’, a ‘reverse Cyprus’ and a ‘German version’. Following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the EU invested heavily in supporting border communities for the development of small business and industry, which improved the economic situation in the area of the former conflict and facilitated border dialogue. However, it led to the fact that many enterprises were oriented towards the EU market or border trade. The article concludes that the ‘reverse Greenland’ model would enable Northern Ireland to remain in the single market and customs union apart from the rest of Great Britain, which would prevent the establishment of a tight boundary between both Irelands. The author outlined the possible implications of the ‘reverse Cyprus’ model, which suggests that the United Kingdom would technically remain a part of the EU, and that the EU’s legislation would be suspended only on its separate parts (that is, Wales and England). The researcher emphasizes that the ‘German version’ could be applied in the case of future reunification of both Irelands, then Northern Ireland would remain a part of the EU until its new status on the referendum have been resolved. The article summarized that no examples above provide a precise analogy, since Brexit is unprecedented event. The most likely models of the Northern Ireland’s future are the ‘reverse Greenland’ and the ‘reverse Cyprus’

11. The Changing Relations of the UK with the EU

2021 ◽  
pp. 397-422
Author(s):  
Nigel Foster
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Complete Separation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Political Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

The history of the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union from its beginning has been, if nothing else, a very vacillating one, and even at the beginning, the UK was a ‘reluctant’ partner in the European project. This chapter will outline the changing legal and political relationship before, during, and after ‘Brexit’, as the negotiations for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) came to be known. The departure, on 31 January 2020, and complete separation on 31 December 2020, placed the UK as a third country to the EU as regards its new trading relationship, is also considered.

scholarly journals Zrozumieć Walijczyków w ich politycznych decyzjach

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Libor
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Eu

To understand the Welsh in their political decisionsBrexit is one of the most important events that dominated the media discourse in 2017. The decision of the residents of the United Kingdom to leave the EU structures will certainly have not only serious economic consequences, but also political, social and cultural ones, both for the United Kingdom itself and for residents of countries that will stay in the European Union.While analysing the results of the referendum, which took place on 23rdJune 2016, it can be seen that the majority of voters in England and Wales voted in favour of leaving the European Union, while those in Scotland and Northern Ireland supported the United Kingdom remaining in the EU structures.The aim of the article is to explain why the majority of voters in Wales were in favour of the United Kingdom exit from the European Union and to indicate potential benefits or losses resulting from the decision taken. Zrozumieć Walijczyków w ich politycznych decyzjachBrexit jest jednym z tych wydarzeń, które zdominowały dyskurs medialny w 2017 roku. Decyzja mieszkańców Zjednoczonego Królestwa o opuszczeniu struktur unijnych będzie miała z pewnością poważne konsekwencje nie tylko ekonomiczne, o których mówi się najwięcej, ale również polityczne, społeczne i kulturowe, zarówno dla samego Zjednoczonego Królestwa, jak i mieszkańców państw, które pozostaną członkami Unii Europejskiej.Analizując wyniki referendum, do którego doszło 23 czerwca 2016 roku, dostrzec można, że za wyjściem z Unii Europejskiej opowiedziała się większość głosujących w Anglii i Walii, podczas gdy wyborcy w Szkocji oraz Irlandii Północnej optowali za pozostaniem Zjednoczonego Królestwa w strukturach unijnych.Celem artykułu jest próba wyjaśnienia, dlaczego większość głosujących na terenie Walii opowiedziała się za wyjściem Zjednoczonego Królestwa z Unii Europejskiej oraz wskazanie potencjalnych korzyści lub też strat wynikających z podjętej decyzji.

scholarly journals Northern Ireland and Brexit: Three effects on ‘the border in the mind’

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Gormley-Heenan ◽  
Arthur Aughey
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The People ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
The Mind

For those who spoke on behalf of Leave voters, the result on 23 June 2016 meant the people of the United Kingdom were taking back ‘control’ or getting their ‘own country back’. However, two parts of the United Kingdom did not vote Leave: Scotland and Northern Ireland. Here, the significant counterpoint to ‘taking back control is “waking up in a different country”’, and this sentiment has unique political gravity. Its unique gravity involves two distinct but intimately related matters. The first concerns the politics of identity. The vote was mainly, if not entirely, along nationalist/unionist lines, confirming an old division: unionists were staking a ‘British’ identity by voting Leave, and nationalists an Irish one by voting Remain. The second concerns borders. The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement of 1998 meant taking the border out of Irish politics. Brexit means running the border between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom across the island as a sovereign ‘frontier’. Although this second matter is discussed mainly in terms of the implications for free movement of people and goods, we argue that it is freighted with meanings of identity. Brexit involves a ‘border in the mind’, those shifts in self-understanding, individually and collectively, attendant upon the referendum. This article examines this ‘border in the mind’ according to its effects on identity, politics and the constitution, and their implications for political stability in Northern Ireland.

Notes on the ECHR and the Disunited Kingdom ‘After’ Brexit – In memoriam Scott Crosby

2020 ◽  
pp. 203228442097693
Author(s):  
Gavin Robinson
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Time Record ◽  
Eu Referendum ◽  
In Memoriam ◽  
European Criminal Law ◽  
The Eu

When the idea of this special edition occurred to the team behind the New Journal of European Criminal Law, my first thought was to go back through all of Scott Crosby’s contributions in print as editor-in-chief and see whether a mini-retrospective on the themes and views therein would be worthy of inclusion here – by Scott’s own standards. These notes focus on what gradually became the single biggest concern expressed in Scott’s editorials: the perilous position of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in a post-Brexit UK – in concreto, the prospect of what he labelled ‘Brexit plus’: a British exit from the ECHR system. I begin with Scott’s views on the European Union (EU) Referendum and the Brexit process. Next comes the great uncertainty currently surrounding the future of Convention rights in the United Kingdom, set against the emphasis placed by the editorials on the instrumental role of the ECHR in fostering peace across the whole of Europe, within and beyond the territory of the EU. In the event that Brexit plus should materialise, writing in the wake of polls showing all-time record support in Scotland for secession from the United Kingdom I close by asking whether Scotland might be able to ‘leave a light on for Strasbourg’.

scholarly journals New chapter in EU-UK relations: Ambitious unprecedented partnership or the first trade and cooperation agreement setting barriers and removing freedoms

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 540-563
Author(s):  
Jovan Vujičić
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Cooperation Agreement ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Eu Membership

In this paper the author analyses the new relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Given the scope and complexity of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the intention was not to explain in detail all its aspects, but only the basic and most important provisions. First of all, those of the free trade agreement, but also in the areas where ties are being renewed, which would otherwise be interrupted by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom. Although it does not reflect the benefits of EU membership, the agreement certainly limits the negative consequences compared to the situation without it and provides much needed predictability and certainty, allowing Europe to leave Brexit behind and move on.

‘Britain's Irish Question: Britain's European Question?’ British-Irish relations in the context of European Union and The Belfast Agreement

2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELIZABETH MEEHAN
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Irish Question ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

If students of world politics can be reasonably accused of ignoring the Troubles in Northern Ireland—in part because they seemed to have little to do with the larger East-West confrontation and partly because they were so obviously about something distinctly national in character—then by the same token specialists on Northern Ireland can justly be accused of a certain intellectual parochialism and of failing to situate the long war within a broader global perspective. The quite unexpected outbreak of peace however only emphasizes the need for a wider understanding of the rise and fall of the Northern Irish conflict. This article explores the relationship between the partial resolution of the Irish Question—as expressed in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998—and the changing character of the European landscape. Its central thesis is that while there were many reasons for the outbreak of peace in the 1990s, including war weariness, it is difficult to understand what happened without situating it in a larger European framework and the new definition of sovereignty to which the EU has given birth.

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