Are Unionists Losing the Union?
| Author | Michael Keating |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058211022937 |
JUNE 2021 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 29
As the Union of England,
Scotland, Northern Ireland and
Wales faces its most severe
challenge in a hundred years,
political circles in London have raised the
alarm. Increasing talk of a second Scottish
independence referendum and a ‘border
poll’ in Ireland, has been accompanied by
a frenzy of ideas and activities to save the
Union from nationalism. There is a lesser
appreciation that the greatest danger may
come from unionism itself.
Historically, the Union has been
understood very dierently in the
component parts of the United Kingdom.
In England, the UK was usually seen as a
unitary state based on the principles of
parliamentary sovereignty and supremacy.
Elsewhere, it was seen as a union of nations
joined together in multiple ways. It was
not a single thing but a set of practices
and beliefs about statecraft that did not
have to rely on a common demos (people),
telos (purpose), or ethos (values). Often it
Are Unionists
Losing the Union?
Amid growing demands for constitutional change in Scotland, Northern
Ireland and even Wales, Michael Keating argues that the greatest threat
to the United Kingdom might come from unionism itself.
was seen in contractual terms, resting on
historic and continuing bargains. What held
it together for unionists, was the unyielding
principle of parliamentary sovereignty
and supremacy. For most unionists, this
precluded legislative devolution or, as it
used to be called, Home Rule. Unionism in
this sense, had its successes and its failures.
All this changed at the end of the 20th
century as unionists embraced devolution
for Scotland, Wales and, in a dierent form,
Northern Ireland. Yet the counterpart
of this concession to national pluralism
was a doubling down on the doctrine of
parliamentary sovereignty. According to
Westminster, devolved parliaments and
assemblies are not expressions of
© Colin McPherson / Alamy Stock Photo
Political Insight June 2021 BU.indd 29Political Insight June 2021 BU.indd 29 12/05/2021 15:3412/05/2021 15:34
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