Natural and Necessary Unions is a history for our time. It shows that the choice between 'union and independence' that shapes current debates about the future of the United Kingdom in the age of Brexit is a false one. Against the countervailing currents of hegemony and fragmentation that range across centuries - from the economic dominance of southern England and the burdens of social democracy to the rise of separatist nationalisms and European integration - unionists struggled to make a union-state that would protect the independence of its citizens and communities from these wider forces. Natural and Necessary Unions tells the story of how the quest for autonomy shaped the history of three communities: Scotland, Ireland, and Northumbria. It charts the different choices these societies made about their relationships within the British Isles and in wider international society, crystallizing in the choice that must be made again between the British and European unions. From these wildly differing experiences, Scotland's devolution emerges as an enviable middle-ground, compared to Ireland's satellite status and the hyper-centralism of England. Drawing on a wealth of evidence from polls to poetry, and a cast of characters ranging from Edmund Burke and Gordon Brown to Gerry Adams and Alex Salmond, Natural and Necessary Unions points the way to a new unionist politics for the twenty-first century.

In this important book, notable European experts in the energy field provide valuable perspectives on the principal issues raised by the liberalisation of the electricity and natural gas markets in the EU. Lawyers, business people, regulators, and policymakers who deal with matters and issues in the energy, natural resources, and environmental fields will find the details and insights presented here of great value.

Nature and agriculture both shape the European countryside and one of the main challenges for the years to come will be to strengthen their interaction for the future development of rural areas. In this valuable and highly topical book, the authors demonstrate how economics and ecology can play a critical role in maintaining and sustaining this relationship. The book identifies the dilemmas facing European agriculture and explores their economic and ecological consequences. The authors believe a better understanding of these problems will be crucial in recognising the potential options for the future role of agriculture and nature policy and will guide the identification of suitable policy instruments. They highlight current threats to the relationship between agriculture and nature - such as abandonment and intensification - and demonstrate how these problems can be resolved by a rational policy mix. The book also provides extensive empirical evidence from four case studies and concludes by scrutinising the major changes in market conditions and the Common Agricultural Policy which could upset this important but fragile balance between agriculture and nature.