The EU

Publication resulting from the UACES 2017 PhD and ECR Conference The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union is bound to pose unique challenges for Northern Ireland, writes Clare Rice. Drawing on her research on anti-discrimination law in the region, she outlines the potential impact on the legal framework for equality and cross-community relations. The potential impact […]

How can we create spaces for critical discussion about the European Union? Vanessa Bilancetti writes in response to Rachael Dickson Hillyard’s article on alternative approaches to EU Studies. Through her own research on institutional responses to the economic crisis, Vanessa Bilancetti identifies dissenting voices that can enrich an ongoing debate. I have read with interest […]

In Munich last weekend, German diplomat and chair of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, told Prime Minister Theresa May regarding Brexit, ‘Things would be so much easier if you stayed.’ His comment received warm applause from those present in the hall, lasting much longer than the reception to Mrs May’s own speech. Mrs May […]

Who knows what Boris Johnson really believes, least of all him? He previously said “what most people in this country want is the single market”, and he would personally vote to remain a member of it. He told the BBC Andrew Marr Show in 2012: ″We would like a new relationship. And it’s very simple […]

Just ten days before the EU referendum, I wrote an article for Independent Voices​ with the headline, ‘You won’t get your country back if you vote for Brexit. You’ll give it away to the most right-wing government in recent history.’ And so, it has come about. My article was shared by Independent readers a record […]

  Emma Sabzalieva We live in an era of intense and growing international connections, but also in a world of significant positional differences between localities, states and regions. In this context, how can the idea of the world-class university be used by states to survive and succeed? What does this idea look like in states […]

The electorate wasn’t sufficiently informed in the 2016 referendum to know whether it was right to leave the EU. The referendum campaign did not give clear answers. The Leave campaign had to rely on colossal lies to present their case. Who knew what to believe? But now it’s becoming clearer by the day what Brexit […]

At Prime Minister’s Questions this week, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn didn’t ask one question about Brexit. Of course, it’s quite right that his questions should have been dominated by the dramatic collapse of Carillion, the company that the government awarded contracts to worth billions of pounds even after they had issued serious profit warnings. […]

Christmas and New Year is a time to think about and hope for ‘peace on earth and goodwill to all men’ (and women, of course). Peace is precious, because around the world there are so many conflicts and disasters that make world peace impossible. From conflicts and disasters come death, destruction and displacement. The world […]

An amendment by the Liberal Democrats to enshrine into law a new referendum on the final Brexit deal was defeated in the House of Commons last night. Amendment 120 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill would have given ‘the people’ a final say on the deal that Theresa May brings back from Brussels. There was […]