ABSTRACT
This chapter interrogates the main themes of the 'new unionism' in order to ascertain whether it inhibits or enhances the prospects for a negotiated political settlement of the Northern Ireland conflict. Any such settlement crucially depends on the willingness of unionists to negotiate constructively, and reach an accommodation, with Irish nationalists. In the absence of any prospect of, or progress towards, a negotiated settlement, no political dynamic exists to counter the deepening sectarian chasm between the two sides of the communal divide in Northern Ireland. The linked themes explored in this chapter confirm that the 'new unionists' see themselves as agents of a superior political idea in Ireland an idea of the British state and citizenship which they claim to be integral to their own survival as a distinct community.
