Elizabeth Meehan

Regions and borders: Controversies in northern Ireland about the European union

Abstract This article is about the simultaneous effects on Northern Ireland of European integration; both ameliorating constitutional controversies and becoming part of the fundamental conflict. There is common ground about NIs material interests and their political representation in Brussels through Westminster. But policy which requires cross‐border co‐operation can be seen by unionists as ‘creeping’ Irish unification. NI is not unique in containing both regional advocates of better policy‐making within existing states and those who see the EU as an opportunity for a different political status. Concessions to some cross‐border co‐operation have been made in recent initiatives from various political quarters. Thus, the conclusion is that there is scope for participants of different persuasions to concentrate upon improving defects internal to the UK and upon the appropriate composition and functions of ad hoc cross‐border authorities.

The Changing British–Irish Relationship: The Sovereignty Dimension

Abstract This essay focuses on the idea and practice of sovereignty, in particular state sovereignty. It deals with the ways sovereignty has featured in British policy since the 1960s in connection with the EU, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and within Great Britain. It argues that, despite continuing attachment to the old language of sovereignty, the UK has adapted how it ‘does’ sovereignty in connection with the EU and Ireland/Northern Ireland. In addition, while the supremacy of parliament is restated in the UK devolution settlements, it is unlikely that the ‘process’ of devolution of power away from the centre can be reversed. But, it is argued, such changes have taken place in piecemeal fashion and without much of a new language of sovereignty.

Citizenship and Identity

A chapter on citizenship, if less so in respect of identity, may be thought to sit oddly in a book called Fundamentals in British Politics, for it can be argued that citizenship is far from fundamental to British political praxis. Citizenship as a status replacing subjecthood came into being only in 1948 and more consequentially in 1983 (when the 1981 British Nationality Act came into force) (Gardner, 1997: 5). Moreover the legal foundations of citizens’ rights are variable in the different parts of the United Kingdom and, in general, complex. This can be construed positively, as it is by John Patten (Mount, 1992: 33–4), on grounds of adaptability, or negatively because of the fragility and uncertainty of rights (Klug et al, 1996; Gardner, 1997).

European community policies on sex equality: A bibliographic essay

This article outlines the literature on womens rights in the European Community. It begins with reports of research into Community law and compliance with it by governments of Member States. This covers legal provisions for equal pay, equal treatment at work, equality in statutory social security and private occupational schemes and, finally, the Social Charter. It then draws attention to the main works on the politics of policy-making, as it relates to women, in Community institutions. Since law and policy have been criticized for failing to address persistent inequality and segregation, the third section of the article refers to research into patterns of society and employment, with particular reference to adverse features that may be reinforced by the Single European Market. In conclusion, the article notes that many recent writers are pessimistic about the capacity of the Community to expand womens autonomy because its rights rest so much on the status of citizens as paid workers. This makes it all the more important that feminist perspectives are included in the politics of policy-making.Abstract This article outlines the literature on womens rights in the European Community. It begins with reports of research into Community law and compliance with it by governments of Member States. This covers legal provisions for equal pay, equal treatment at work, equality in statutory social security and private occupational schemes and, finally, the Social Charter. It then draws attention to the main works on the politics of policy-making, as it relates to women, in Community institutions. Since law and policy have been criticized for failing to address persistent inequality and segregation, the third section of the article refers to research into patterns of society and employment, with particular reference to adverse features that may be reinforced by the Single European Market. In conclusion, the article notes that many recent writers are pessimistic about the capacity of the Community to expand womens autonomy because its rights rest so much on the status of citizens as paid workers. This makes it all the more important that feminist perspectives are included in the politics of policy-making.

Researching women in EuropeEuropean community policies on sex equality: A bibliographic essay

This article outlines the literature on womens rights in the European Community. It begins with reports of research into Community law and compliance with it by governments of Member States. This covers legal provisions for equal pay, equal treatment at work, equality in statutory social security and private occupational schemes and, finally, the Social Charter. It then draws attention to the main works on the politics of policy-making, as it relates to women, in Community institutions. Since law and policy have been criticized for failing to address persistent inequality and segregation, the third section of the article refers to research into patterns of society and employment, with particular reference to adverse features that may be reinforced by the Single European Market. In conclusion, the article notes that many recent writers are pessimistic about the capacity of the Community to expand womens autonomy because its rights rest so much on the status of citizens as paid workers. This makes it all the more important that feminist perspectives are included in the politics of policy-making.Abstract This article outlines the literature on womens rights in the European Community. It begins with reports of research into Community law and compliance with it by governments of Member States. This covers legal provisions for equal pay, equal treatment at work, equality in statutory social security and private occupational schemes and, finally, the Social Charter. It then draws attention to the main works on the politics of policy-making, as it relates to women, in Community institutions. Since law and policy have been criticized for failing to address persistent inequality and segregation, the third section of the article refers to research into patterns of society and employment, with particular reference to adverse features that may be reinforced by the Single European Market. In conclusion, the article notes that many recent writers are pessimistic about the capacity of the Community to expand womens autonomy because its rights rest so much on the status of citizens as paid workers. This makes it all the more important that feminist perspectives are included in the politics of policy-making.

Policy Learning: Equality and Human Rights in Northern Ireland, Ireland and Great Britain

This article is about policy learning or diffusion in the field of equality and human rights across Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK). It first outlines the axes along which policy learning has taken place, or could do so, and the policies that are the subject of learning. It then discusses internal policy learning in Northern Ireland (NI) on the key issue of public sector duties. Learning is then examined between NI and Ireland; between NI and Great Britain (GB); and between Ireland and GB. These sections involve private and public employers, as well as the public sector duties, and touch on institutional design. In conclusion, it is suggested that it is not only because of the banking, fiscal and economic crises in Ireland and the UK that learning opportunities have been undermined. This case study demonstrates the importance of the contrast between politicians with their “limited attention spans” and the more analytical wider policy community of professionals and interest groups. Power relations between them are a significant factor in degrees of superficiality or profundity.

The grinding reality of realpolitik: current and future directions in the UK, USA and Europe

This paper reports on a debate about The Current and Future Directions of the political relations between the UK, USA and Europe held in March 2005 for the Academy of the Social Sciences. A panel of four social science practitioners and academics, chaired by Philip Davies, addressed the question of the real nature of these relations and their written comments are presented with a commentary by Davies. Dumbrell explored the way that ‘both the US-UK “Special Relationship” and the entire Atlantic alliance were struggling to come to terms with the removal of the cold war, “common fate” glue, much less the Great Rift over Iraq’. Meehan drew attention to ‘a flurry of efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to repair the relationship between the EU and the US and, hence, the UKs relationship with European partners’, concluding that ‘the good intentions to understand common real interests and act upon them through common Enlightenment values may yet pave the road to hell’. In revising her analysis for publication she moderated her earlier scepticism ‘about the strength of good intentions on both sides not to allow such continuing differences to stand in the way of the co-operative pursuit of real interests’. Hames argued that Britain should be more relaxed about its relations ‘rather than hands being wrung about whether we are insufficiently “pro-European” or not close enough to becoming the 51st state of the United States, those interested in maintaining or extending British power should ask themselves what we need to do to keep our present privileged position’. Williams made the case for a more sophisticated understanding of the domestic political dynamics of the USA by those on the European side of the Atlantic, and for a greater recognition ‘that the political achievement of the European Union is a staggering one’. In all, the debate acknowledged the ‘grinding reality of realpolitik’.