Ever-evolving nation-state now propelled by EU integration

YOU might think the decision by Sinn Féin to allow Martin McGuinness to shake the Queen’s hand is a historic moment or a political stunt, but either way it’s another sign the Shinners accept the new political reality: one where the definition of ‘Ireland’ is rather nebulous.

Since the nineteenth century, the nation-state — where political and ethnic entities coincide — has been regarded as the ‘natural’ and preferable form of geo-political organisation. Given our history of struggle to get to where we are, we tend to cling to nation-statehood; and given their histories, many of our European neighbours are a bit more lukewarm on the idea.

What changed for them was the Second World War: when nationalism — the emotional wing of nation-statehood — spurred people to barbarous cruelty. The establishment of what became the European Union was a response to this barbarity: the idea being that shared economic interests would blunt the edges off nationalism. Then, and now, there was a clear implication that the nation- state might not be the best way to organise the peoples of Europe.

Over the last five decades, the EU has become larger and somewhat more cohesive; the notion of ‘pooled sovereignty’ has further eroded the integrity of each nation-state. Meanwhile, within each country, the idea of it being an ethnic entity correlating to a political one has also been undermined by widespread migration: it’s almost impossible to find a European country where, in that country, most people look or sound or regard themselves as exclusively Dutch or German or French. As has always happened through human history, people and communities change their complexion, both literally and metaphorically.

Yet many, or perhaps most, Europeans don’t think of it that way. They regard their homeland as a neatly baked pie, when it is in fact a stew. The notion of the nation-state could never last because ‘nation’ is not a fixed quality. Our ancestors were not always Irish, and chances are our descendants won’t be either. And this is a living, breathing process that is taking place now, which Martin McGuinness and the rest of us are engaged in.

People of all sorts of religions and ethnicities now regard themselves as Irish; or at least regard Ireland as home. There are more than a million people on this island who regard Ireland as home but think of themselves as British. We are as much of a stew as anyone else.

And while our nationhood changes, so too does our statehood: the inexorable movement towards fiscal union in Europe will mean that we give away one of the main powers associated with self-determination.

For many people, this is scary stuff. Inevitably, it will provoke anger. Yet nationality has no moral quality attached to it: it’s not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to be Irish. For most of us, it wasn’t even a choice. Finally, perhaps, we may be forced to confront what being Irish means; and most importantly, what we want it to mean.