Time to solve the case of Northern Ireland. When
referring to this particular case, the blog series TERRITORIAL DISPUTES
presented with the first 20 posts (posts 86-105) relevant European Union law
(free movement of persons, European citizenship, free movement of goods,
capital and services). The last four posts (posts 106-109) introduced very
briefly the background situation.
Territory, in principle, can be defined as an area
owned and possessed by the population (in land, water, space and, perhaps,
cyberspace). Like population, it may have features that could cause controversy
in TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. Some of the features that constitute territory will be
reviewed using the case of Northern Ireland in light of Brexit. Those that introduce
controversy will be analyzed using the model proposed here. Next time we center
the attention on borders, natural resources and defense.
Let us remember the way in why this series
propose to deal with TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. The allocation
of sovereignty will be given by: a) equal right to participate (egalitarian
consensus principle); b) the nature and degree of participation depends on
efficiency of accomplishing the particular objective/area/activity at issue
(principle of efficiency); c) each party receives a benefit (in terms of rights
and opportunities) that depends on what that party cooperates with
(input-to-output ratio principle); and d) provided the party with greater
ability and therefore greater initial participation rights has the obligation
to bring the other two parties towards equilibrium (equilibrium proviso). I
call this way of dealing with sovereignty conflicts or disputes the EGALITARIAN
SHARED SOVEREIGNTY.
Many questions are to be expected. Amongst them: How
is that translated into geographical borders between Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland after Brexit? What about the exploration and exploitation
of natural resources? This question has two parts: a) the sea-zone adjacent to
Northern Ireland only; and b) the portion that overlaps with the Republic of
Ireland. Finally, in the hypothetical scenario that Northern Ireland had a
referendum and decided to leave the United Kingdom, who would defend them?
The next posts on this blog series about TERRITORIAL
DISPUTES will cover these questions. In order to answer them, the posts will
explore the concept of self-determination in the event Northern Ireland decided
to have a referendum in the future.
NOTE: based on Chapter 7, Núñez, Jorge Emilio. 2017. Sovereignty Conflicts and
International Law and Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue. London and New
York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter:
@London1701
27th July 2018
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