The UK government's Northern Ireland policy after Brexit: a retreat to unilateralism and muscular unionism

Brexit has significantly altered the trajectory of UK government policy towards Northern Ireland. The peace process was implicitly built on a presumption of continued joint EU membership by the UK and Ireland. The EU model of interdependence and cooperation was explicitly stated to be an inspiration...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of European public policy Vol. 30; no. 11; pp. 2275 - 2302
Main Authors Kelly, Conor J., Tannam, Etain
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 02.11.2023
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Belfast/Good Friday Agreement
Brexit
Cooperation
EU membership
Europeanisation
Governance
Government
Interdependence
muscular unionism
Northern Ireland
Peace negotiations
Presumption
Public policy
Referendums
Unilateralism
Unionization
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Summary:Brexit has significantly altered the trajectory of UK government policy towards Northern Ireland. The peace process was implicitly built on a presumption of continued joint EU membership by the UK and Ireland. The EU model of interdependence and cooperation was explicitly stated to be an inspiration by its key architect John Hume. However, the history of British-Irish cooperation over Northern Ireland is long and complex and cannot solely be understood through the lens of Europeanisation. Despite this, the aftermath of the 2016 referendum has seen a retreat by the UK government from a bilateral and consensual approach towards Northern Ireland to unilateralism and a 'muscular' unionist ideology. This has affected their governance there, hampering their relationship with local parties and undermining the agreed role of the Irish government. The impact of Brexit on UK government policy towards Northern Ireland has undoubtedly contributed to the destabilisation of the political settlement.
ISSN:1350-1763
1466-4429
DOI:10.1080/13501763.2023.2210186