The Brexit Challenge for Ireland and the United Kingdom
Constitutions Under Pressure

Evaluates the pressures, both institutional and territorial, that Brexit exerts on both the United Kingdom and Irish constitutional orders.

Oran Doyle (Edited by), Aileen McHarg (Edited by), Jo Murkens (Edited by)

9781108965880, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 April 2023

352 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.512 kg

'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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Legislation [LNZL], Constitutional & administrative law [LND], EU & European institutions [JPSN2], United Nations & UN agencies [JPSN1], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Politics & government [JP], British & Irish history [HBJD1], European history [HBJD]