The transformation of sub-state nationalism within the European Union : the case of Northern Ireland

Abstract

The post-national political community of the EU has transformed nation-state political authority and challenges nation-state claims to sovereignty. In turn this has impacted upon sub-state nationalists’ self-understandings and their selfdetermination claims vis-à-vis their host nation-states. This thesis seeks to analyse how the self-determination demands of sub-state nationalists are being accommodated within - and transformed by - the post-national political community of the EU, with a particular focus on how such accommodation and transformation impacts the two dominant sub-state nationalist groups in Northern Ireland. The two main nationalist groups in Northern Ireland, broadly, consist of those who seek self-determination by the unification of Northern Ireland with the rest of Ireland (northern Irish Nationalists and Republicans) and those who seek self-determination by maintaining Northern Ireland's union with Great Britain (Ulster Unionists and Loyalists). The nature of Northern Irish sub-state nationalists' self-understanding and the meaningfulness of their pursuit of self-determination within the British nation-state or the Irish nation-state will be considered in light of developments in the post-national political community of the EU.