The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland: Volume 16 2021

Contributors to the 2021 edition of The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland were invited to give their assessment of the extent to which the conditions necessary for cooperation across this island, and across these islands, have been maintained, following the end of the Brexit transition period, and as the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland came into effect. They were asked to assess the relative health of the political, social, material and regulatory contexts for North‐South and East‐West cooperation and for wider relations.

The 2021 edition of The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland, then, seeks to test the state of health of the conditions for cooperation and relations within and across these islands and beyond, with the first four articles looking at the political conditions.

Trusting relationships: A necessary political condition for cooperation
Stuck in the middle with EU (and the UK)? How Ireland navigates its relationships with the EU and UK post-Brexit
British‐Irish relations, Northern Ireland and Europe: An historical perspective on a contemporary political problem
Scotland‐Ireland relations in a European context

Three articles then offer their assessment of the social conditions for cooperation and relations within and across these islands.

The totality of relationships? Hard truths instead of comfortable lies
Conditions for cooperation – Whither civil society?
The UK’s withdrawal from the EU: Impact on the political, social and legal conditions for crossborder civil society cooperation

This year’s edition of The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland concludes with three articles considering the prevailing material and regulatory conditions for cross‐border cooperation and relations.

Balancing regulation, devolution, and trade: A global issue rendered acute in Northern Ireland