ABSTRACT
Intensified globalisation and European integration have already stimulated some 'rethinking' of the conflict between Irish nationalists and unionists. It is, however, typically one-sided and sometimes grossly exaggerated thinking, particularly in its popular and potentially most influential forms. It discusses how the conflict and North-South relations might be rethought to more transnational context. Based on critiques of nationalism and international relations theory, the chapter outlines how national problems might begin to be solved by rethinking them theoretically, empirically and politically. As Northern Ireland amply testifies, the nationalist theory of 'sovereign independence' and 'national self-determination' generally promises more than it can ever deliver. The 'realist' and 'liberal' theories of international relations which tend to inform party politics and government policies are also deeply flawed. The modern territorial state incorporating this sovereignty doctrine was a pre-condition of nationalist theory and practice. State territorialisation involved formal sovereignty over everything, secular and spiritual, being 'bundled' together into territorial 'parcels' called 'states' and later 'nation states'.
