I.2.a. Historical Background and Political Perspectives

A history of the period from a nationalist perspective with the stated aim of putting in context the divisions and conflict in Northern Ireland. A postscript notes briefly some of the political developments in the 1920s and 1930s including the introduction of the Special Powers Act in 1933 and the emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

The chapters in this history of the IRA which deal with the gradual shift in the position of Provisional Sinn Fein and IRA, their engagement in the political process through discussions with both the rival nationalist SDLP and the British government, and their eventual decision to end the military campaign, provide valuable insights into the dynamics of the peace process in Northern Ireland. The final chapter subjects the republican case to critical – though not unsympathetic – scrutiny but rejects the contention that the struggle was in any straightforward sense an anti-colonial one or that its religious dimension can be ignored.

Critical examination of both Nationalist and Unionist accounts of the causes of the conflict. Authors distinguish broadly between explanations that focus on external factors – the policies of British and Irish governments – and those that identify the internal factors of religion, culture and ethnicity in Northern Irish society. They reject the proposition that the conflict is fundamentally a religious one, and are sceptical not only of the various Marxist accounts – Orange, Green and ‘Red’ – but of the essentially materialist accounts by many liberal commentators. While acknowledging the multiplicity of causal factors, they view the conflict as essentially one between groups which identify themselves along different national, ethnic and religious lines, though they hold out the hope of an accommodation between them to produce an ‘agreed’, though not necessarily a united, Ireland.

Aims, in words of editor, ‘to give its readers a reasonably broad critical introduction to the Northern Ireland conflict’. Most of the 13 contributors to the book are academics working in the field of sociology, politics and media studies, plus writers and journalists. The thrust of the argument in the book is that the conflict needs to be understood as an anti-colonial struggle, not as a religious or ethnic one, and that tackling the inequalities brought about by colonialism is the key to securing a lasting peace.

Puts the case, following the publication of the report of the New Ireland Forum, for an independent Northern Ireland

Mixture of history, personal memoir and analysis by this Irish academic, writer and statesman. In chapter 8, ‘Civil Rights: the Crossroads’ (pp. 147-77) he argues that the campaign of civil disobedience begun by the civil rights movement in 1968 was bound in the context of Northern Ireland’s deeply divided society to increase sectarianism and lead to violence. Defends Partition on the grounds that the alternative would have been a much bloodier civil war than the one that occurred in the South in 1922-23. Cites a loyalty survey conducted by Richard Rose in 1968 to dismiss as unrealistic the proposition that the Catholic and Protestant working class might unite in a struggle against a common class enemy and create a workers’ republic in a united Ireland.

Investigation of the convictions and sense of identity of people in the Catholic Community in Northern Ireland based on recorded interviews with fifty-five individuals – not all of them necessarily practising Catholics – about their political allegiances, their relationship with Protestants, and their attitude to the IRA, Britain, Southern Ireland and the Church.

Standard and frequently cited work by an American political scientist based in Britain. Charts the origins and development of the divided community in Northern Ireland since the foundation of the state, and considers the problems of governance it gives rise to. Includes a discussion of the civil rights movement. Sees no immediately practicable solution to the problem and draws a comparison with the race problems in the United States. The analysis is supported by data from an extensive social survey of public opinion and informal discussions with people active in Northern Ireland politics.

Detached assessment of the evidence. Concludes that while discrimination against Catholics in this period certainly existed, it was more marked in some policy areas than others – more marked in electoral practices (especially at local government level), public employment and policing, generally less so in private employment, public housing and regional policy. But he notes that geographically, also, there were marked differences, with discrimination being more widespread in the west, which had a higher Catholic population.