The Irish border is a manifestation of the relationship between Britain and Ireland. When that relationship has been tense, we have seen the worst effects at the Irish border in the form of violence, controls and barriers. When the relationship has been good, the Irish border has become – to all intents and purposes – open, invisible and criss-crossed with connections. Throughout its short existence, the symbolism of the border has remained just as important as its practical impact.
With the UK’s exit from the European Union, the challenge of managing the Irish border as a source and a symbol of British-Irish difference became an international concern. The solution found in the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement gives the Irish border a globally unique status.
A century after partition, and as we enter the post-Brexit era, this book considers what we should know and do about this highly complex and ever-contested boundary line.
Table of Content
1. Introduction
2. Background
3. What Do We Know About the Irish Border?
4. What Should We Do About the Irish Border?
5. Conclusion
About the author
Katy Hayward is Professor of Political Sociology in Queen’s University Belfast and a Senior Fellow in the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank, where she leads a project on ‘The future and status of Northern Ireland after Brexit’. She is the author of many publications, including a series of research reports (2017-2021) for the Irish Central Border Area Network on the impact of the UK-EU negotiations on the border region. In 2019, she was appointed to the technical expert panel of the UK government’s Alternative Arrangements Advisory Group on Brexit. She was named Political Studies Communicator of the year (2019) by the Political Studies Association (UK) and her Twitter account (@hayward_katy) received a special award from the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize in 2020 for illuminating and explaining the implications of Brexit for the island of Ireland.
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