This book examines the economic and political contributions of the EU to the Northern Ireland peace process, tracing the genesis of EU involvement since 1979 and analysing how it acted as an arena in which to foster dialogue and positive cooperation. Based on extensive archival research and exclusive elite interviews this volume provides the first comprehensive study of how the EU contributed to the reconfiguration of Northern Ireland from a site of conflict to a site of conflict amelioration and peace-building. The book demonstrates that the relationship between Northern Ireland and the EU has been much more significant in the peace process than previously suggested.

The politics of Ulster Unionism is central to the success or failure of any political settlement in Northern Ireland. This book examines the relationship between Ulster Unionism and the peace process in reference to these questions.

Northern Ireland's Belfast Agreement has faced continual crises of implementation over a variety of security related issues. This book places the implementation of the Belfast Agreement in a wide context to provide an analysis of why implementation has been so difficult.

The complete history of Northern Ireland from the Irish Civil War to Brexit “A wonderful book, beautifully written. . . . Informative and incisive.”—Irish Times After two decades of relative peace following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the Brexit referendum in 2016 reopened the Northern Ireland question. In this thoughtful and engaging book, Feargal Cochrane considers the region’s troubled history from the struggle for Irish independence in the nineteenth century to the present. New chapters explain the reasons for the suspension of devolved government at Stormont in 2017 and its restoration in 2020 as well as the consequences for Northern Ireland of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. Providing a complete account of the province’s hundred-year history, this book is essential reading to understand the present dimensions of the Northern Irish conflict.

This book offers a re-evaluation of the emergence, development and outcome of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with many of the key participants of the peace process, newly released archival material and the existing scholarship on the conflict, it explains the decisions that shaped the peace process in their proper context. O'Kane argues that although the outcome of the process can be seen as a success, it is not the outcome that was originally expected or intended by most of its participants. By tracing the process and highlighting the pragmatic decisions of the parties that shaped it the work explains how Northern Ireland moved from conflict to peace. The book concludes by examining what the implications of Brexit are for Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace and political stability.

This unique study breaks new ground in engaging the study of Northern Ireland politics directly with broader debates about European integration and European governance. The text offers the most comprehensive coverage to date of the institutional development of Northern Ireland following the UK government’s devolution programme and Northern Ireland’s development as an autonomous policy actor in Europe. This study marshals evidence from Northern Ireland’s relationship with the European Union (EU) during the contemporary era of devolved power. The text argues that in Northern Ireland a series of national and regional constraints, complexities and divisions limit regional autonomy. These original insights question the synergy between devolution and the EU and query the existence of new forms of ‘governance’. This is a contribution of both immense substance and considerable importance and should be essential reading for those with an interest in Northern Ireland and EU politics.