Unionisms in the UK's Brexit crisis

This article examines how UK, English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish unionisms and unionists are responding to the Brexit crisis in the state. The United Kingdom faces a dual territorial sovereignty crisis, externally through Brexit in its relations with the European Union, and internally concerning the shape and survival of its own political union. Four constitutional trajectories are plausible: a breakup of the UK, a renegotiated UK, a differentiated UK, and a federal UK. Together with a related crisis in its central political institutions, this is a constitutional moment for the UK. After surveying how unionists perceive and frame these challenges to their unionisms, the article concludes with an assessment of how effective their responses are.