Between two unions.The Constitutional Future of the Islands after Brexit

该项目研究了英国退出欧盟与英国和爱尔兰宪法改革之间的相互关系。这本身就构成了一个具有历史意义的重要事件，也是一个在几乎没有规则和未知结果的背景下重塑宪法的实时实验。联合王国和欧洲联盟都构成了工会，这是一种概念化不足的宪法形式。我们首先将其作为调和统一性与多样性以及政治、经济和社会层面的手段。联合王国的联合主义在历史上将承认民族多样性与拒绝政治权力下放相结合。自20世纪90年代以来，随着权力下放到苏格兰、威尔士和北方爱尔兰，这种情况发生了变化，但联盟并没有被重新定义。相反，核心国家在很大程度上保持不变，议会主权原则得到保留。英格兰的问题基本上没有得到解决。许多关于宪法的根本问题没有得到解决，几乎没有宪法判例，冲突是通过务实和政治手段解决的。自1949年以来，爱尔兰共和国一直是一个独立的国家，但与联合王国保持着经济和社会联系，近年来还共同管理着北方爱尔兰。一些观察家批评这一切是不连贯和不稳定的，并呼吁制定一部正式的宪法，更好地定义领土的权力划分。另一些人则对英国宪法的灵活性表示赞赏和赞赏。自20世纪90年代以来，英国从一个统一国家向一个多层次国家的转变在很大程度上得到了欧盟成员国身份的支持;这两个联盟一直是互补的。它允许更宽松的权力下放解决方案，并引入了共享主权的概念，为自治形式提供了灵感，而不是分裂。与英国一样，欧盟缺乏明确的最终目标，并对多种解释持开放态度。英国脱欧破坏了英国和解及其与爱尔兰的关系，特别是考虑到苏格兰和北方尔兰爱尔兰的留欧投票。它的实施需要内部宪法改革。这可能会导致重新中央集权和中央国家主权的重申，联合王国的解体，或进一步的权力下放和不对称。该项目研究了这些问题将如何解决，导致退出和2020年英国大选。它将以真实的时间审查谈判进程。它将通过观察行为者、他们的权力资源以及所提出的主张和论点来寻求解释。它将审查结果，侧重于四个方面：机构关系和机构权力的变化;宪法原则及其澄清和共享的程度;经济联盟，包括监管联合王国单一市场和公共支出分配的规则;社会福利和各岛屿公民权利的变化，包括相互承认和可移植性。这本身就是一个重要的案例，研究将有助于向决策者和公众提供信息。它也是社会科学中的一个重要案例，探讨了通常被视为主权国家定义特征的东西在英国案例中已经被拉伸的方式，以及它们可以进一步拉伸的程度。这些原则包括：共同的主权原则;固定的边界;社会权利的核心;明确界定的国家中心;以及解决宪法冲突的明确原则和规则。

The project examines the inter-relationship between UK withdrawal from the European Union and constitutional change within the United Kingdom and Ireland. This constitutes a historically important event in its own right, and a real-time experiment in constitutional reinvention in a context with few rules and an unknown outcome. The United Kingdom and the European Union both constitute unions, a constitutional form that is under-conceptualized. We start by taking it as means of reconciling unity with diversity, with political, economic and social dimensions. Unionism in the United Kingdom historically combined recognition of national diversity with refusal of political devolution. That has changed since the 1990s with devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but the Union has not been redefined. Instead the core state has remained largely unaltered and the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty retained. The question of England is largely unaddressed. Many fundamental issues about the constitution are unaddressed, there is little constitutional jurisprudence and conflicts are resolved pragmatically and by political means. The Republic of Ireland has been a separate state since 1949 but retains economic and social ties to the United Kingdom and in recent years has shared in the management of Northern Ireland.Some observers have criticized this all as incoherent and unstable and called for a formal constitution and better definition of the territorial division of power. Others have valued and admired the constitutional flexibility of the UK.The transformation of the UK from a unity to a multilevel state since the 1990s has been underpinned in important ways by membership of the EU; the two unions have been complementary. It has allowed a more permissive devolution settlement and introduced notions of shared sovereignty that provide the inspiration for forms of self-government short of secession. Like the UK, the EU lacks a clearly defined end goal and is open to multiple interpretations. Brexit destabilizes the UK settlement and its relationship with Ireland, especially in view of the Remain votes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Its implementation requires internal constitutional change. This could entail recentralization and a reassertion of central state sovereignty, the disintegration of the United Kingdom, or further devolution and asymmetry. The project examines the way these issues will be worked out leading up to withdrawal and the UK General Election of 2020. It will examine the process of negotiation in real time. It will seek explanation by looking at the actors, their power resources and the claims and arguments deployed. It will examine the outcome, focusing on four dimensions: institutional relationships and changes in the powers of institutions; constitutional principles and the degree to which they are clarified and shared; the economic union, including rules for policing the UK single market and the distribution of public expenditure; social welfare and the variation of citizen entitlements across the islands, including mutual recognition and portability. This represents an important case in its own right and the research will serve to inform policy makers and the general public. It also serves as a critical case in social sciences, exploring the ways in which what are often seen as defining features of the sovereign state have already been stretched in the UK case and the extent to which they can be stretched further. These include a shared doctrine of sovereignty; fixed borders; a core of social entitlements; a clearly-defined state centre; and clear principles and rules for resolving constitutional conflicts.