
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is not as old as some would think. While its history has been better documented than most over the past thousand years or so, its constitution and territory have fluctuated considerably over that time. The current arrangements can substantially be dated to the act of union in 1800, notwithstanding the secession of the Irish Republic in the early twentieth century. A series of threats to the legitimacy of that state are circling, and its breakup appears a very substantial possibility. These threats are not merely the increasing levels of separatist politics in Scotland, Ireland and to a lesser degree Wales, which are symptoms of the fundamental challenges. These are related to some fundamental institutions of the state: Monarchy, Church, Parliament and the Military.
Continue reading “The Failing Legitimacy of the British State”