ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the way in which the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA), which ended the 25-year conflict in Northern Ireland, changed how territorial state sovereignty was recognised on the island of Ireland, both domestically and internationally. It argues that during the Brexit debate it became clear this changed perception underpinned the European Union’s stance in the withdrawal negotiations. To analyse this shift in international recognition the chapter discusses the historic context of the Northern Ireland conflict and the response of the EU to the threat that Brexit poses for the GFA. To provide a base line to assess the change in international perceptions of sovereignty it examines the failure the government of the independent Irish state to achieve recognition of its territorial claim on Northern Ireland, and the absolute nature of the recognition of British sovereignty up to 1998. It explains the way in which the content of the GFA qualified the UK’s sovereignty and redefined political relationships, both in Northern Ireland and between the Irish and British governments. These new relationships also changed domestic perceptions of the nature of sovereignty on the island; this was further redefined by the Brexit debate, which gave new life to a discussion on the viability of a united Ireland. The chapter argues that the EU’s defence of the GFA in the Brexit negotiations demonstrates that the open border, the peace process and the increased level of cross-border integration, are no longer simply domestic matters for the UK as the recognised sovereign government of Northern Ireland, as they rest on an international treaty signed by Ireland, a member state of the EU. It concludes that international recognition of statehood and state sovereignty is not a simple binary option of recognition or non-recognition, emphasising that in complex peace agreements recognition and sovereignty are also complex and multilayered.
