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The chapter defends the Northern Ireland Agreement's consociational institutions. It notes that the Agreement also contains federal and confederal institutions covering all of Ireland and linking Ireland with Britain, and argues that both the internal and external dimensions were necessary parts of a durable settlement given the identities and aspirations of nationalists and unionists. The chapter stresses, in contrast to positions taken by Arend Lijphart and Donald Horowitz, the advantages of the particular proportional electoral system used in Northern Ireland. It also points to the dangers that Britain's tradition of parliamentary sovereignty poses to stable agreements between Britain and Ireland. Northern Ireland, the author argues, could and should have become a federacy as well as having consociational governance.

Chapter 1 introduces the importance of partially independent territories (PITs) as well as the key questions, central arguments, and methodology of the book. It examines the role that PITs play for global finance, international security, geostrategic capability, and for understanding the structure of the international system. It also lays out the book’s central questions: What are partially independent territories? How do they emerge? What sustains them? And how do they potentially end? The chapter discusses the defining characteristics of PITs. It then summarizes some of the book’s arguments on the advantages of these polities as compared to sovereign states, the conditions of their emergence, and the factors for their sustainability and potential termination.

Chapter 6 introduces a newly apparent and globally widespread form of neo-colonialism referred to here as sham federacy. It discusses the forms they can take, the problems they engender, and the misunderstanding that they often cause. Similar to colonies, sham federacies are nationalistically distinct and constitutionally unincorporated polities, except they have nominally been delegated some unentrenched powers that can be revoked by the fiat of the core state. The result is a widespread neo-colonial political form that arguably represents a darker side of regional autonomy that is frequently neglected in the political and legal literatures. It is useful to discuss sham federacy in the context of this book because some may mistakenly confuse them with PITs, because they underscore the disadvantages of not having powers that are entrenched, and because their large-scale international emergence reinforces the attractiveness of self-governance arrangements even if the reality of credible self-governance does not emerge.

In the latter half of the Union, participation crises occurred across the institutional spectrum, with many Irish men and women choosing exit rather than voice or loyalty. That, however, produced a better-resourced Irish diaspora in an emergent great power. Catholics achieved some limited social mobility, but experienced regression in some occupations; by contrast, Presbyterians more clearly benefited from pan-Protestantism. The churches deepened their institutional strength in education, including higher education. The undemocratic character of the Union is emphasized in this chapter, but the secret ballot and the eventual widening of the male franchise made more visible what had long been evident: most Irish Catholics preferred repeal of the Union, home rule, or independence, or some variant thereof. The expanded electorate, in conjunction with modernization, underpinned the electoral solidification of nationalism and unionism, respectively supported by cultural Catholics and cultural Protestants, especially in Ulster, where polarization was deepest. The formation of Irish nationalism and republicanism in party formats, initially focused on land rights and home rule, and the countermovement of Irish and Ulster unionism are treated. The First World War postponed conflict in a newly para-militarized Ireland.

This chapter provides a detailed account of the contents and significance of the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and of its consociational and non-consociational components. It conforms to all aspects of a consociational settlement—namely, parity, proportionality, autonomy, and veto rights among the partners—but it is not just a consociation. The agreement encompasses a peace agreement, a substantive program to complete the reform of Northern Ireland, cross-border cooperation across Ireland, and intergovernmental cooperation between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and all the British Isles. It can be seen as creating a “federacy” in Irish eyes; in unionist eyes every component of the agreement can be modified by normal UK legislation. An assessment of why the agreement was made is offered, as well as a preliminary evaluation of its early difficulties in implementation.

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.