The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom
Since the 1950s, European integration has included ever more countries with ever-softening borders between them. In its apparent reversal of integration and its recreation of borders, Brexit intensifies deep-seated tensions, both institutional and territorial, within and between the constitutional orders of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In this book, leading scholars from the UK and Ireland assess the pressures exerted by Brexit, from legal, historical, and political perspectives. This book explores the territorial pressures within the UK constitution, connecting them to the status of Northern Ireland before exploring how analogous territorial pressures might be addressed in a united Ireland. The book also critically analyses the Brexit process within the UK, drawing on Irish comparative examples, to assess unresolved tensions between popular mandate, legislative democracy, and executive responsibility. Through practical application, this book explores how constitutions function under the most intense political pressures.
- Offers a broad-ranging assessment of the constitutional effects of Brexit, helping readers to understand the myriad constitutional issues that have arisen in the course of the Brexit process, and to evaluate their longer-term implications
- Considers the intertwined constitutional implications of Brexit for both Ireland and the UK
- Draws together a range of leading scholars from the UK and Ireland, combining expertise from law, history and political science
Reviews & endorsements
'This timely collection provides one of the very first insights into the impact of Brexit on UK and Irish Constitutional law. It tackles this complex and challenging subject with clarity, expertise and insight, in contributions from both newer voices and well-established scholars. It will become essential reading for all who wish to learn more about this subject.' Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, Anniversary Chair in Law, Queen Mary University of London
‘This is a timely and valuable collection of essays that explores the challenges posed by Brexit for Ireland and the UK. These challenges played a significant part in the negotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement, and were centre stage in subsequent trade discourse. The book will be of interest to all those concerned by the impact of Brexit on constitutional ordering broadly conceived.’ Paul Craig, Emeritus Professor of English Law, University of Oxford
Product details
August 2021Hardback
9781108832922
350 pages
235 × 155 × 22 mm
0.66kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Introduction: the constitutional tensions of Brexit Oran Doyle, Aileen McHarg and Jo Murkens
- Part I. Territorial Pressures in Ireland and the United Kingdom:
- 1. Subsidiarity, competence, and the UK territorial constitution Jo Hunt
- 2. Brexit and the mechanisms for the resolution of conflicts in the context of devolution: do we need a new model? Elisenda Casanas Adam
- 3. Beyond matryoshka governance in the 21st century: the curious case of Northern Ireland Sylvia de Mars and Aoife O'Donoghue
- 4. Political parties in Northern Ireland and the post-Brexit constitutional debate David Mitchell
- 5. The constitutional significance of the people of Northern Ireland C. R. G. Murray
- 6. The constitutional politics of a United Ireland Oran Doyle, David Kenny and Christopher McCrudden
- 7. The minority rights implications of Irish unification James Rooney
- Part II. Institutional Pressures and Contested Legitimacy:
- 8. Populism and popular sovereignty in the UK and Irish constitutional orders Eoin Daly
- 9. Party, democracy and representation: the political consequences of Brexit Malcolm Petrie
- 10. Westminster versus Whitehall: what the Brexit debate revealed about an unresolved conflict at the heart of the British constitution David Howarth
- 11. Brexit and the problem with delegated legislation Adam Tucker
- 12. Litigating Brexit Christopher McCorkindale and Aileen McHarg
- 13. The law officers: the relationship between executive lawyers and executive power in Ireland and the United Kingdom Conor Casey
- 14. In search of the constitution Martin Loughlin.