Unionist apathy and a return of centuries old ‘siege mentality’ will do more to bring about a united Ireland than anything nationalism does, an historian says.
Aaron Edwards’ new book, A People Under Siege, explores the “profound challenges” that the unionist community has faced over the past century. But in its analysis of the beliefs and mindset of Northern Ireland’s unionist community since Brexit, the book lays bare how a “referendum that began on the question of sovereignty quickly degenerated into cries of betrayal over a redrawn border in the Irish Sea, and has led to unionists becoming more insular again, resurrecting ethnic and nationalist notions of what constitutes the Union”.
Speaking to Belfast Live Edwards says that while the “loudest voices” are enjoying some success in elections “unionist apathy is going to end the union quicker than any kind of irredentist campaigning from new Irelanders”.
