Ireland - historians' perspectives Flashcards
McKittrick and McVea
- Stress the inadequacy of O’Neill’s government; he failed to sole unemployment and bring unionism in line with his rhetoric.
- James Chichester-Cark took over from O’Neill, and was similarly unable to reconcile pressures of unionism, nationalism and London. The general feeling during his premiership was that he was out of his depth.
Rees; Northern Ireland: A Personal Perspective (1985)
- Describes the intense resentment felt by many Protestants at the charges of sectarian discrimination levelled at their community.
- Discrimination is a serious social problem in Northern Ireland.
- Emphasises the need to involve all sides within Northern Ireland in any proposed scheme for social and political improvement
- Said that Thatcher needed to learn the following – if a proposal is enthusiastically supported by one side, it is probably wrong.
Adams; Falls Memoirs (1983) and Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland
- Written about the Falls Road and its inhabitants – an oral history of Belfast.
- Argues that Belfast Presbyterians, after forming the Society of the United Irishmen, fought alongside their Catholic neighbours for national Independence and political democracy – this is untrue. Clear political bias.
- (Paddy Devlin review) ‘Catholics at the time were concerned not with independence nor political democracy, but with the emancipation of their own middle class’
Bloomfield; A tragedy of errors: the government and misgovernment of Northern Ireland
- (Bloomfield headed the Northern Ireland civil service between 1984 and 1991)
- his home was bombed by the IRA
- certain sins of omission and commission contributed to the Irish problem;
- Particularly critical of the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) – he argues it alienated Unionists whilst failing to halt the rise of Sinn Fein. Negotiation of the agreement without the participation of the Northern Ireland civil service
- Admits he was partly responsible for several errors in the 1960s – failure to respond to criticism of Catholic underrepresentation in the civil service of Northern Ireland.
- Bloomfield voted for the Good Friday Agreement despite remaining unconvinced that it offers a firm foundation for a stable and peaceful future for Northern Ireland.
- Does not agree that the eclipse of the centre ground (UUP and SDLP) by voices of unionism and nationalism (DUP and Sinn Fein) is a price worth paying for reduced violence.
- Sceptical of the commitment to the democratic process of former ‘terrorists’. Exacerbated by structure of new Northern Ireland executive – little collective responsibility, lost of individual responsibility.
J Powell; Great hatred, little room
- Powell was Blair’s chief of staff and principal advisor on Northern Ireland
- Illustrates the gulf between ‘our [English] shorter-term perspective’ and ‘their [Northern Irish] longer sense of historical grievance’.
- Peace process depended on Blair’s belief that the past was a place best left behind to move forward – PM’s vision of a New Northern Ireland was similar to his earlier vision of a New Labour Party.
- Blair’s bravery based in part on political naivety.
- Had it not been for the Iraq war, Blair would be remembered very differently as the great spokesperson who brokered peace in Northern Ireland.
- Hume and Trimble were both victims of the Good Friday Agreement and erosion of centre-ground Irish politics.
- Ian Paisley’s later moderation due to a life-threatening illness.
- Northern Ireland remains heavily divided – much sectarian difference and distrust BUT Northern Ireland is functioning in a way that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.
Patterson; Ireland since 1939: The Persistence of conflict
• Critical of the Anglo-Irish Agreement
• Northern Ireland remained dependant on the bloated public sector for employment during the troubles.
• One party rule led to tensions and contradictions within Northern Ireland.
• one-party rule. Inequitable practices such as retaining the householder franchise and the business vote after it had been abandoned in Great Britain, in order to preserve unionist control of local government in Londonderry and the western counties, and discrimination in the allocation of housing and jobs in areas where the two communities were evenly balanced or Protestants in a minority later became major grievances of the civil rights movement.
• (O’Neill’s gov.) Derry City Unionists were so blinded by sectarian considerations and the desire to protect their artificial majority that they lobbied Stormont to prevent industries being located to the area – to prevent migration of unemployed (who would be Catholic)
• Lord Brookeborough’s refusal to face down Orange opposition to Catholics becoming UUP members was but
one of many missed opportunities presented to the regime to create harmony within Northern Ireland and to bolster its own position.
• Owing to historic mistrust and an unwillingness to constructively engage with the minority, the unionist regime helped sow the seeds of its downfall and future civil unrest in Northern Ireland
• The emergence of the two extremes in the peace process was the only outcome capable of making a lasting impact.
English; Irish Freedom: The history of nationalism in Ireland
- Nationalism involves the interaction of community, struggle and power.
- Nationalists assume that the nation-state is the only valid source of political power – so notions of sovereignty and self-determination crucial.
- Describes the nationalist attachment to land as a guarantor of one’s survival. Constant evocation of territory. Nationalism has always involved the reinvention, or gaining access to, state power. Exemplified by the Fenians, Sinn Fein, IRA, young Fianna Fail and others…
- Nationalists, whilst not always obeying their Church, exhibited a Catholic identity and associated this with Irishness.
Bourke; Peace in Ireland: The War of Ideas
- Northern Ireland conflict should not be seen as a product of atavistic hatreds.
- Conflict is a thoroughly modern dispute over the nature of democracy and equality – articulated by both Irish Republicanism and Unionism.
- Permanent resolution of the conflict will rest on changing the democratic ideas of Unionism and Republicanism – 1998 Belfast Agreement has merely postponed the dispute by ensuring that the political future of Northern Ireland will be decided by majority vote.
- Compares agreement to 1974 Sunningdale Agreement; Belfast gave authorisation to one representative system of government, which was acknowledged by various protagonists in Northern Ireland. Sunningdale – there were 3 representative actors each claiming the popular will.
- By arguing that the British link is connected to British imperial interests, Republicans see Unionist interests as linked to imperialism and this conditions how they analyse the Unionist presence in Ireland.
Hennessey; Northern Ireland: The origins of the Troubles.
• Origins of the troubles date from O’Neill’s attempts at reform
• Describes the origins of the troubles in terms of Protestant fundamentalism and perceived Catholic threat
• None of the main protagonists of the troubles agree about what was instrumental in causing them
- Nationalist view; geographic unity, British interference.
- Unionist view; two different peoples unable to accept each other’s existence.
Frampton; The long march: The political strategy of Sin Fein 1981-2007
- Republicanism is defined by Sinn Fein
- Party members have not changed their view of Unionism as sectarian, reactionary, and a non-autonomous construct of the British state. In their eyes the British government is still a colonial entity.
Cunningham; British government policy in Northern Ireland, 1969-2000
- Rejects the idea that his book is objective
- There has been much strategic continuity in British policy which is maintained despite tactical shifts. Devolution a crucial strand running through British thinking.
- In this way he rejects the positions of anti-imperialist and crisis management schools of thought.
- All evidence indicates that the British government does not take up a pro-Unionist position.
- Both parties in the bipartnership in England accept the innate ‘otherness’ of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has largely remained of marginal importance to British policy makers.
