The EU’s Influence on the Peace Process and Agreement in Northern Ireland in Light of Brexit

Hayward, Katy; Murphy, Mary C.

doi:10.1080/17449057.2018.1472426

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Membership to the European Union (EU) complemented Northern Ireland’s peace process as it provided Unionists and Nationalists with a context that surpassed their ideological, political, and territorial differences (Hayward, 2018; Hayward & Murphy, 2018; Murphy & Evershed, 2021). Critical to this was access to the EU single market, which facilitated the free movement of goods and people across the previously contested Ireland–Northern Ireland border, and as such reduced its salience in everyday life (Hayward, 2018).…”

Section: Group Identification and Construction Of Political Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit: Threat or opportunity? Nationalist identification is related to the perceived likelihood of a United Ireland.

Shelly¹,

Muldoon²,

Roth³

2023

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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Northern Ireland has long been a contested territory. The 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement seemed to offer a resolution to the long-standing conflict. However, it has been reawakened by Brexit. Brexit presents a threat in Northern Ireland because it raises the divisive question of the United Kingdom's sovereignty over the region and the issue of the border. However, despite Nationalists'-a political identity group associated with the political ideology of Irish reunification-initial opposition to Brexit, many in this group now view Brexit as a potential opportunity to achieve their political goal of Irish unity. The aim of the present research is to examine the combined influence of the Nationalist's identity and perceived Brexit threat on people's understanding of the proximity of this political goal. We specifically test whether Nationalists' strength of group identification, and the threat of Brexit, is linked to how likely people believe a United Ireland has become. In two studies, we found evidence for the prediction that strong ingroup identification is related to the perception that a United Ireland is more likely. In the second study, path analysis showed that this relationship is conditional on perceived threat. For Nationalists with stronger ingroup identification, the threat of Brexit is greater. Combined, these factors are linked to an increased sense that a United Ireland is likely. In the discussion, we consider the implications of our findings for polarization in this postagreement society. Public Significance StatementThis study suggests that, in contexts of political instability, strong group identification and threat may be associated with people's perceptions of political opportunity. Additionally, it highlights the importance of considering the role of identity and threat to understand people's political preferences in a society with preexisting divisions.

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Section: Group Identification and Construction Of Political Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit: Threat or opportunity? Nationalist identification is related to the perceived likelihood of a United Ireland.

Shelly¹,

Muldoon²,

Roth³

2023

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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“…The uncertainty regarding the future of the Irish border challenged the post-GFA regime, thus reopening the territorial debates-and nationalist-unionist fractures-in Northern Ireland. The consensus among scholars is that Brexit, particularly a so-called hard Brexit, challenged, undermined and potentially jeopardised the peace process in Northern Ireland (Brewer, 2018;Doyle & Connolly, 2019;Hayward & Murphy, 2018;Teague, 2019). As explained in previous sections, Northern Ireland has experienced territorially driven violence in different periods of the 20th century.…”

Section: Brexit: the Re-territorialisation Of Ireland?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The division of Ireland and its foes: The centenary of resistance to partition

Pinos

McCall

2021

Nations and Nationalism

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“…In such a very practical way, the EU context successfully enabled change in cross-border economic relationships in Ireland, structurally impacting on the significance of the border as an economic and customs divide. As such, the border region became a site of growing economic cooperation, with plans for its further expansion through the Belfast-Dublin 'border corridor' and north-west city region (Hayward and Murphy 2018).…”

Section: The Slow Transformation Of the Bordermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Irish border as sign and source of British-Irish tensions

Hayward¹,

Leary²,

Komarova³

2021

Handbook on Human Security, Borders and Migration

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The Government of Ireland Act, 1920 partitioned Ireland along a line set to ensure a stable Protestant majority in the small northern state. However, neither stability nor security were achieved by this act, in any social, political or economic sense. This chapter gives an overview of the practical and symbolic significance of the border, the impact of the conflict and peace process on the border region, and the anticipated effects of Brexit. Through a detailed case study of a border village, it demonstrates that, after a violent and disruptive conflict, the present-day interconnectedness of the border region is seen as both 'normal' and a precious part of everyday life. An appreciation for the achievements of peace is particularly acute in the border region, which has been so directly affected by the worst effects of conflict. These achievements are seen by local residents to be put under threat by Brexitnot least because it has revived some tensions in the British-Irish relationship. The everyday lives of borderland communities continue to be buffeted by history as well as by national and even international politics.

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The EU’s Influence on the Peace Process and Agreement in Northern Ireland in Light of Brexit

Cited by 22 publications

References 15 publications

Brexit: Threat or opportunity? Nationalist identification is related to the perceived likelihood of a United Ireland.

Brexit: Threat or opportunity? Nationalist identification is related to the perceived likelihood of a United Ireland.

The division of Ireland and its foes: The centenary of resistance to partition

The Irish border as sign and source of British-Irish tensions

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