Introduction

The Irish border has endured for a century. The partition that created the border on the island of Ireland emerged from the Government of Ireland Act and the Anglo-Irish Treaty which the British government agreed in London with a representation of Irish rebel leaders. Over the course of the century, the Irish border experienced processes of bordering and debordering. Bordering began in the 1920s with the construction of border infrastructure and the mobilisation of customs officials and border security personnel. Countervailing debordering commenced in the 1990s as an outcome of Europeanisation and the Irish Peace Process. The prospect of rebordering on the island of Ireland emerged with the 2016 referendum on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU – popularly known as Brexit – and the stunning success of the Leave campaign. The Irish border refers to the land border between the states of Ireland and the UK.