British Isles naming dispute "British-Irish Isles" and the Islands of the North Atlantic. In documents drawn up jointly between the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is referred to simply as "these islands". To some, the dispute is partly semantic, and the term is a value-free geographic one, while, to others, it is a value-laden political one. The Crown dependencies of the Channel Islands may also for geo-political reasons be included in the British Isles, despite not being geographically part of the archipelago. United Kingdom law uses the term British Islands to refer to the UK, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man as a
Politics in the British Isles merely a formality. There have been discussions within some of the Crown dependencies about greater independence from the Crown, but they have not yet gained strong popular or governmental support. The following is a summary of the intergovernmental bodies and collaboration platforms in the British Isles (note: this list does not include bodies that exist solely in the United Kingdom such as the Joint Ministerial Committee) The main body for multilateral international relations in the islands, since 1998, is the British–Irish Council. The British-Irish Council (BIC) is an international organisation established under the Belfast Agreement in 1998. Its membership comprises