Confederal and Consociational Futures

Abstract

The concluding chapter critically reviews the role of European integration in improving British-Irish relations, and in the making of the Good Friday Agreement. Four major votes across Northern Ireland between 2016 and 2017 are surveyed, paying particular attention to the 2016 referendum on EU membership. Predictions are made about the future of Northern Ireland and its union with Great Britain or its reunification with Ireland based on unfolding developments. Transformations South and North, political, social, and economic, are emphasized. The closure of the prospects of a second partition of Ulster is highlighted. Discussion about the possible breakdown, decay, or amendment of existing consociational provisions, and possible modes and modalities of Irish reunification are considered against three twilights that are highlighted, and sketched.