Governance for Brexit’s Differentiated (Dis)Integration: the case of Northern Ireland

Brexit has been categorized as a ground-breaking case of differentiated disintegration (Gänzle et a, 2020). The withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU), its rejection of EU-centred processes of integration and cooperation in its minimalist post-Brexit relationship with the EU, and the active pursuit of regulatory divergence from the EU clearly demonstrate the disintegration dynamic that dominates the initial post-withdrawal period. However, despite the dominance of disintegration, the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU do maintain a differentiated form of integration with the EU for part of the United Kingdom, namely Northern Ireland. The dedicated Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland contains both unprecedented substantive integration arrangements and a unique – and evolving – institutional governance framework for the implementation of the Protocol. Situating the analysis in the comparative context of EU external differentiated integration, the paper assesses the integration-focused content of the Protocol before exploring in detail the governance arrangements initially agreed for the operation of the Protocol and those that have been put in place to address concerns about the Protocol’s democratic deficit. A final section of the paper reviews the initial operation of the governance arrangements with particular reference to the decision-shaping role they establish in respect of Protocol obligations for dynamic alignment with the EU acquis. As such, the paper considers a new dimension to the EU’s differentiated external integration and the unique external governance arrangements it has established.