Negotiating a Settlement in Northern Ireland: From Sunningdale to St Andrews uses original material from witness seminars, elite interviews, and archive documents to explore the shape taken by the Irish peace process, and in particular to analyse the manner in which successful stages of this were negotiated. Northern Ireland's Good Friday Agreement of 1998 marked the end a 30-year conflict that had witnessed more than 3,000 deaths, thousands of injuries, catastrophic societal damage, and large-scale economic dislocation. This book traces the roots of the Agreement over the decades, stretching back to the Sunningdale conference of 1973 and extending up to at least the St Andrews Agreement of 2006. It describes the changing relationship between parties to the conflict (nationalist and unionist groups within Northern Ireland, and the Irish and British governments) and identifies three dimensions of significant change: new ways of implementing the concept of sovereignty, growing acceptance of power sharing, and the steady emergence of substantial equality in the socio-economic, cultural, and political domains. As well as placing this in the context of an extensive social science literature, the book innovates by looking at the manner in which those most closely involved understood the process in which they were engaged. The authors reproduce testimonies from witness seminars and interviews involving central actors, including former prime ministers, ministers, senior officials, and political advisors. They conclude that the outcome was shaped by a distinctive interaction between the conscious planning of these elites and changing demographic and political realities that themselves were, in a symbiotic way, consequences of decisions made in earlier years. They also note the extent to which this settlement has come under pressure from new notions of sovereignty implicit in the Brexit process.

Ireland has enjoyed continuous democratic government for almost a century, an unusual experience among countries that gained their independence in the 20th century. But the way this works in practice has changed dramatically over time. Ireland's colonial past had an enduring influence over political life for much of the time since independence, enabling stable institutions of democratic accountability, while also shaping a dismal record of economic under-development and persistent emigration. More recently, membership of the EU has brought about far-reaching transformation across almost all aspects of Irish life. But if anything, the paradoxes have only intensified. Now one of the most open economies in the world, Ireland has experienced both rapid growth and one of the most severe crashes in the wake of the Great Recession. On some measures Ireland is among the most affluent countries in the world, yet this is not the lived experience for many of its citizens. Ireland is an unequivocally modern state, yet public life continues to be marked by formative ideas and values in which tradition and modernity are held in often uneasy embrace. It is a small state that has ambitions to leverage its distinctive place in the Atlantic and European worlds to carry more weight on the world stage. Ireland continues to be deeply connected to Britain through ties of culture and trade, now matters of deep concern in the context of Brexit. And the old fault-lines between North and South, between Ireland and Britain, which had been at the core of one of Europe's longest and bloodiest civil conflicts, risk being reopened by Britain's new hard-edged approach to national and European identities. These key issues are teased out in the 41 chapters of this book, making this the most comprehensive volume on Irish politics to date.

The first woman elected to lead a major Western power and the longest serving British prime minister for 150 years, Margaret Thatcher is arguably one the most dominant and divisive forces in 20th-century British politics. Yet there has been no overarching exploration of the development of Thatcher's views towards Northern Ireland from her appointment as Conservative Party leader in 1975 until her forced retirement in 1990. In this original and much-needed study, Stephen Kelly rectifies this. From Thatcher's 'no surrender' attitude to the Republican hunger strikes to her nurturing role in the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process, Kelly traces the evolutionary and sometimes contradictory nature of Thatcher's approach to Northern Ireland. In doing so, this book reflects afresh on the political relationship between Britain and Ireland in the late-20th century. An engaging and nuanced analysis of previously neglected archival and reported sources, Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party and the Northern Ireland Conflict, 1975-1990 is a vital resource for those interested in Thatcherism, Anglo-Irish relations, and 20th-century British political history more broadly.

Brexit and the Northern Ireland Constitution considers the intersection of two processes: the complex and constitutional process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union - Brexit - and the steady yet fragile development of the Northern Ireland constitution deriving, primarily, from the Belfast 'Good Friday' Agreement of 1998. Interdisciplinary in approach, the analysis draws on legal and political theory to develop a novel framework for assessing the progressive impact of Brexit on the Northern Ireland constitution based on systematic definitions of both. This approach elucidates dynamics and implications not yet considered in the otherwise extensive debates about Brexit and its impacts on Northern Ireland. Based on detailed analysis of the Brexit process it is argued that its impact on the constitution of Northern Ireland has been profound. Fundamentally, Brexit changed the political and legal environment in which the Northern Ireland constitution had existed for over twenty years. Embracing 'constructive ambiguity' the 1998 Agreement recognises and accommodates the concerns of both unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland; it did not therefore solve the constitutional conflict but rather allowed it to be managed differently through an innovative system of multileveled governance: within Northern Ireland (power-sharing devolution), on the island of Ireland (North-South cooperation), and between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland (East-West cooperation) all underpinned by a multifaceted principle of constitutional, popular, and cross-community consent. By forcing a paradigmatic shift in the way that the systems of government established by the 1998 Agreement operate, Brexit disrupted the 'constructively ambiguous' compromise that it represents. Completed two years after the legal implementation of UK withdrawal from the EU, Whitten concludes by considering the potential longer-term constitutional repercussions of Brexit both within and beyond Northern Ireland's (recently notorious) borders.

The book provides the first scholarly analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to create the legal framework for Brexit on 31 January 2020. The volume covers the negotiation process, the substantive provisions, governance arrangements under the Agreement and the main challenges ahead.

The book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the withdrawal agreement concluded between the United Kingdom and the European Union to to create the legal framework for Brexit. The book — which builds on a prior volume "The Law & Politics of Brexit" (OUP 2017) - overviews the process of Brexit negotiations that took place between the UK and the EU from 2017 to 2019, and examines the key provisions of the Brexit deal. The volume assesses the withdrawal agreement provisions on the protection of citizens' rights, the Irish border and the financial settlement - as well as the governance provisions on transition, decision-making and adjudication, and the prospects for future EU-UK trade relations. Finally, the book reflects on the longer-term challenges that the implementation of the 2016 Brexit referendum poses for the UK territorial system, for British-Irish relations, as well as for the future of the EU beyond Brexit.

This handbook provides an empirically rich analysis of referendums in Europe from the end of the Second World War to the present. It addresses a range of perennial theoretical and legal questions that face policy-makers when they offer citizens the chance to take or influence decisions by referendum, not least whether to accept the ‘will of the people’. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on historical, philosophical and political science perspectives, the book includes a contextual section on the history of referendums, the theoretical questions underpinning their use, and on constitutional and legal questions about the use of referendums. The empirical sections are divided into those referendums that focus on domestic issues, such as constitutional matters or questions of social policy, and those related to the European Union, including membership referendums and treaty ratification.