BRITAIN’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CONFLICT IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND PEACEKEEPING IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2312-1815/2025-20-21Keywords:
UK, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Good Friday Agreement 1998, Northern Ireland conflict, peace process, conflict resolution, Brexit, EU, sovereigntyAbstract
The article identifies the role and contribution of the United Kingdom in the settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict and in maintaining peace in the context of Brexit. It analyses the policy of the United Kingdom government regarding cooperation with the government of the Republic of Ireland in the context of relations with Northern Ireland, efforts to sign the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and establish a lasting peace. It focuses on the advantages of the membership of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the EU for the peace process, including the institutional and normative lessons of the EU, which are traced in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. In this context, the process of Europeanization is actualized and the relevance of this concept for Northern Ireland in recent decades is determined. It is argued that the joint membership of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the EU coincided with other key events that contributed to British-Irish intergovernmental cooperation. The impact of the UK’s decision to leave the EU – Brexit in 2016 and its implications for the peace process in Northern Ireland and the implementation of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is examined. It is stated that the Brexit decision and the UK government’s behaviour during the announcement of the referendum results had serious consequences for British-Irish relations and the UK’s governance of Northern Ireland. In this context, an in-depth analysis of the impact of Brexit on the political and socio-economic situation in Northern Ireland in the context of maintaining peace on the island of Ireland is carried out. The transformation of the UK government’s policy towards Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2024 is demonstrated. A number of agreements between the EU, the UK and the Republic of Ireland are examined, including the Brexit Agreement, the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Windsor Agreement. The implications of the above-mentioned treaties for the peace process, as well as for relations between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the UK and the EU, and relations within Northern Ireland itself are analysed. The article argues that, regardless of whether the role of Europeanisation in the peace process can be overstated, the change in UK policy towards Northern Ireland has had normative significance, and the process of de-Europeanisation since 2016 has clearly and unambiguously had a negative impact on UK policy towards both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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