Description
Debates about the reunification of Ireland have accelerated post-Brexit and in the context of recent Sinn Féin electoral successes. These debates have generally focused on the economic prospects of reunification, the provision of health and social care, and the likely outcome of a border poll. Within this there has been limited discussion of the ecological and climate implications of a united Ireland. This may seem strange when one considers that the island of Ireland has always been a single biogeographic unit of landscapes, water sources, flora, and fauna despite its historic political divide.
This panel asks why the two green politics in Ireland - republicanism and environmentalism - have not been brought together within a sustained debate. Beginning from the premise that the 'big question' of Irish politics cannot be answered apart from the 'big question' of planetary politics, we invite papers that examine the tensions between these two green politics from theoretical and empirical perspectives.
We invite papers that focus on, but need not be limited to:
- The overlap between nature restoration/climate action and post-conflict reconciliation
- Conflict transformation and just transitions
- Cross-border environmental activism
- Managing the habitats along the border
- The nexus of neoliberal economic policies, peace, and environmental degradation
- Class and sectarian division in the access to nature and natural spaces
