PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

27

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

201213

IRISH POLITICS Topic 11: Northern Ireland: historical background to the problem
1. 2. The establishment of the NI state: how and why. The plantations of 17C; development of political and economic differences during 19C. The Stormont regime 1920 to the mid 1960s a Protestant attitudes: a Protestant parliament and a Protestant state; discrimination b Catholic attitudes: complained about the injustice of the state, not injustice within the state c The south: traditional nationalism d Britain: neglect Changes in the 1960s and the destabilisation of Stormont a Catholics: a new willingness to try to reform the system from within; the civil rights movement, creation of the SDLP b Protestants: 1963 leadership change; the causes and consequences of the arrival of multi-nationals; suspicious response to civil rights movement c The south: implicit change of approach under Lemass The 1970s to 1998: the search for stable institutions; active British involvement; Sunningdale; the rise of the DUP and Sinn Fin; the AngloIrish Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement / Belfast Agreement of April 1998: main points (see Mitchell and Wilford, or items overleaf, for overview) et seq

3.

4. 5.

Reading: The most useful books are: Jonathan Tonge, The New Northern Irish Politics? (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Paul Mitchell and Rick Wilford (eds), Politics in Northern Ireland (Boulder: Westview and PSAI Press, 1999). Chapters giving historical background, and looking at various aspects of NI politics (eg Good Friday Agreement, political violence, party system, policy-making, women and politics, plus southern perceptions of NI) Aaron Edwards and Cillian McGrattan, The Northern Ireland Conflict: a beginners guide. London: Oneworld, 2010. Brendan OLeary and John McGarry, The Politics of Antagonism: understanding NI, 2nd ed (London, 1996); essentially an analytic history of the NI conflict Arthur Aughey and Duncan Morrow (eds), Northern Ireland Politics (London: Longman, 1996); gives a survey of the main aspects (history, main ideas). Arthur Aughey, The Politics of NI: beyond the Belfast Agreement (London: Routledge, 2005) Pdraig OMalley, The Uncivil Wars, 3rd ed (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997); worth reading in its entirety even though its 400 pages long. Relevant to the other NI topics as well Web site: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk is generally regarded as the most useful; the IBIS site at www.ucd.ie/~ibis also has useful information.

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

28

For the emergence and history of NI: Thomas Hennessey, Northern Ireland: the origins of the troubles (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 2005). A solid account Liam Kennedy and Philip Ollerenshaw (eds), Ulster Since 1600: politics, economy and society (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013), chs 14 (Loughlin), 20 (Walker) Alvin Jackson, Ireland 17981998 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), chs 5, 7 and 8 cover the period from 1891 till recently Paul Dixon and Eamonn OKane, Northern Ireland since 1969 (Longman, 2011) Michael Laffan, The Partition of Ireland 191125 (Dublin, 1983), chs 12, 67; on the background to and emergence of partition Theres a lot on the 1998 Agreement, with inevitably quite a lot of overlap: Rick Wilford (ed.), Aspects of the Belfast Agreement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), especially chs 2 (Wolff), 4 (OLeary) Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd (eds), After the Good Friday Agreement: analysing political change in NI (Dublin: UCD Press, 1999), esp chs 1 (on how it came about, whats in it and what the outcome may be), 7 (Ruane on three scenarios) Brendan OLeary, The Belfast Agreement and the BritishIrish Agreement: consociation, confederal institutions, a federacy and a peace process, 293356 in Andrew Reynolds (ed.), The Architecture of Democracy: constitutional design, conflict management and democracy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002. Written for an international readership. John McGarry (ed.), NI and the Divided World: the NI conflict and the Good Friday Agreement in comparative perspective (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001), esp chs 25 Christopher Farrington, Ulster Unionism and the Peace Process in NI (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), ch 4 explores pro- and anti- worldviews among unionists Dennis Kennedy, The case against the Belfast Agreement, pp. 24664 in Brian Barton and Patrick J Roche (eds), The Northern Ireland Question: the peace process and the Belfast Agreement. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Michael Cox, Adrian Guelke and Fiona Stephen (eds), A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement, 2nd ed (Manchester: MUP, 2006). 29 chapters on various aspects of NI, including several (chs 49) on the Belfast Agreement; a little time-bound. G K Peatling, The Failure of the Northern Ireland Peace Process (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2004), chs 1 and 5. A dissenting view For analyses of southern attitudes to the problem John Coakley and Michael Gallagher (eds), Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 5th ed (Abingdon: Routledge and PSAI Press, 2010), ch 13 (Coakley) John Coakley and Liam ODowd (eds), Crossing the Border: new relationships between NI and the Republic of Ireland (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2007), chs 1 and 13 by the editors, ch 4 by Howard on civil society Rick Wilford (ed.), Aspects of the Belfast Agreement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ch 12 (Coakley) Katy Hayward, The politics of nuance: Irish official discourse on Northern Ireland, Irish Political Studies 19:1 (2004) 1838 Pat Lyons, Public Opinion, Politics and Society in Contemporary Ireland (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2008), ch 6 on changing southern attitudes towards NI John Coakley (ed.), Changing Shades of Orange and Green: redefining the union and nation in contemporary Ireland (Dublin: UCD Press, 2002), ch 11, Tom Garvin on The fading of traditional nationalism in the Republic of Ireland, 12331. Anthony Heath et al (eds), Ireland North and South: perspectives from social science (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999), ch 13 (Girvin) Jennifer Todd et al, The moral boundaries of the nation, Ethnopolitics 5:4 (2006) 36582 Duncan Morrow, Warranted interference? The Republic of Ireland in the politics of Northern Ireland, tudes Irlandaises 20:1 (1995), pp. 12547. Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd, The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: power, conflict and emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996), pp. 24965 Fionnuala O Connor, In Search of a State: Catholics in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Blackstaff, 1993), ch 7 on how northern Catholics perceive the south John Coakley, The Northern conflict in Southern Irish school textbooks, pp. 11941 in Adrian Guelke (ed.), New Perspectives on the NI Conflict. Aldershot: Avebury, 1994.

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

29

Topic 12: Northern Ireland: the heart of the problem

What is the heart of the problem? How important is each of the following factors? 1 2 3 Religion. The importance of doctrinal differences; the role of religion in socialisation. Civil rights / discrimination. Colonialism. The traditional nationalist, 1-nation perspective. But if it is a colonial problem, where do the Unionists fit in? Are they a part of the nation? Are they colonisers or colonised? a Official traditional nationalism: the Unionists are an integral part of the Irish nation. The difficulty: the Unionists themselves reject the definition of Irishness held by most people on the island. b Unofficial traditional nationalism: the Unionists are settlers, not natives. The difficulties: how long before settlers become natives; and is there really a geographical or historical Irish nation whose re-establishment the Unionists are thwarting? Ethno-nationalism: national identity / legitimacy of the regime. A nonbargainable issue as neither side can compromise on matters central to its way of life. But are these factors really non-bargainable? Some survey evidence.

Reading: J. H. Whyte, Interpreting Northern Ireland (Oxford, 1990). A very full assessment of the literature. Chs 15 assess the salience of religious, economic, political and psychological aspects, while chs 69 examine the main paradigms (nationalist, unionist, marxist and internal-conflict) John McGarry and Brendan OLeary, Explaining Northern Ireland: broken images (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995). Chs 17 discuss a range of perspectives. Similar to Whytes approach but takes a slightly different path. Note their stress on ethnonationalism as the heart of the conflict The following provide useful and concise analyses of the problem, and assess the various perspectives: Kevin Boyle & Tom Hadden, Ireland: a positive proposal (Harmondsworth, 1985), ch 4; tries (in one chapter) to explain the problem to the average uncomprehending outsider. Arend Lijphart, The Northern Ireland problem, British Journal of Political Science 5:1 (1975), pp. 83106. Maurice J Bric and John Coakley (eds), From Political Violence to Negotiated Settlement (Dublin: UCD Press, 2004), ch 11 by Coakley on The legacy of political violence in Ireland, and Michael Cox, Adrian Guelke and Fiona Stephen (eds), A Farewell to Arms? From long war to long peace in NI (Manchester: Manchester UP, 2000), ch 9 by Marie Smyth. Both analyse the evidence about fatalities during the troubles Aaron Edwards, Interpreting the conflict in Northern Ireland, Ethnopolitics 6:1 (2007), 13744. Gives an overview in the context of a review of a number of books. Pdraig OMalley, Northern Ireland: a manageable conflict, Irish Review 15 (1994), pp. 1439. A pessimistic analysis. Paul Arthur, Special Relationships: Britain, Ireland and the Northern Ireland problem (Belfast: Blackstaff, 2000), ch 2

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

30

On religion: Claire Mitchell, Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland (Ashgate, 2006) John Hickey, Religion and the NI Problem (Dublin, 1984), ch 3 John Fulton, The Tragedy of Belief: division, politics and religion in Ireland (Oxford, 1991), pp. 11325 Steve Bruce, Paisley: religion and politics in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007), ch 8. Opening sentence: The Northern Ireland conflict is a religious conflict. Fionnuala O Connor, In Search of a State: Catholics in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Blackstaff, 1993), ch 8 on northern Catholics and the church Gerald McElroy, The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland Crisis 196886 (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1991), ch 5 On civil rights / discrimination: J H Whyte, How much discrimination was there under the Unionist regime 192168?, pp. 135 in T. Gallagher and J. OConnell (eds.), Contemporary Irish Studies (Manchester, 1983)see also the references to this topic in Whytes Interpreting Northern Ireland (use the index), where its political salience is discussed John McGarry, Political settlements in Northern Ireland and South Africa, Political Studies 46:5 (1998), pp. 85370; on similarities and differences between NI and South Africa, and what the comparison tells us about the NI conflict On the colonialist / traditional nationalist perspective: J. H. Whyte, Interpreting Northern Ireland (Oxford, 1990), ch 6. Assesses nationalist interpretations M. MacDonald, Children of Wrath (Cambridge, 1986), ch 1; endorses this perspective Robbie McVeigh, The British/Irish peace process and the colonial legacy, pp. 2753 in James Anderson and James Goodman (eds), Dis/Agreeing Ireland: contexts, obstacles, hopes (London: Pluto, 1998); also endorses it David Miller (ed.), Rethinking Northern Ireland: culture, ideology and colonialism (London and NY: Longman, 1998), eg chs 1 (Miller), 2 (Clayton), 13 (ODowd). Argues that most media and academic coverage and analysis is informed by British propaganda, unionist ideology or the ethnic conflict paradigm, and the conflict can be understood only in the context of imperialism and colonialism M. Gallagher, Do Ulster Unionists have a right to self-determination?, Irish Political Studies 5 (1990), pp. 1130. Outlines some of the arguments of the unofficial traditional nationalist school. Clare OHalloran, Partition and the Limits of Irish Nationalism (Dublin, 1987), esp ch 1, Epilogue; takes issue with the traditional nationalist perspective John Bowman, De Valera and the Ulster Question (Oxford, 1982), pp. 1130, ch 8; also takes issue with it On national identity Fionnuala O Connor, In Search of a State: Catholics in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Blackstaff, 1993), ch 9 on the identity of northern Catholics Colin Coulter, Contemporary Northern Irish Society: an introduction (London: Pluto, 1999), ch 1 on The nature of division Marianne Elliott, Religion and identity in Northern Ireland, pp. 16985 in Marianne Elliott (ed.), The Long Road to Peace in Northern Ireland (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002) Andy Pollak (ed.), A Citizens Inquiry: the Opsahl Report on Northern Ireland (Dublin: Lilliput, 1993), chs 9 and 14 on culture, religion, identity and education Richard Rose, Governing without Consensus (London, 1971), ch 6. Early but not outdated analysis

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

31

Topic 13: Loyalism

1 Who are the Loyalists? What distinguishes them from other Unionists? Rose: Ultras / Allegiants; Wright: extreme / liberal Unionists; Todd: Ulster British / Ulster Loyalists; Miller: contractarian / non-contractarian attitudes. Difficulties of understanding the Loyalist mentality. Protestants national identity. The nation and a bit theory. Contractarianism; one (Catholic) nation and one (Protestant) community; conditional loyalty to Britain. Double minority model Some key characteristics of Loyalism. The siege mentality and the lessons drawn from history. The intermingling of religious and political values; evangelical Protestantism as a focus of identity

2 3

Reading (see also readings under religion for Topic 12):

Jennifer Todd, Two traditions in Unionist political culture, Irish Political Studies 2 (1987) pp. 126 (on Ulster Loyalist and Ulster British ideologies). Mervyn Busteed et al (eds), Irish Protestant Identities (Manchester UP, 2008), ch 18 (Hennessey) Jennifer Todd, History and structure in loyalist ideology: the possibilities of ideological change, Irish Journal of Sociology 4 (1994), pp. 6779. Andrew Finlay, Defeatism and northern Protestant identity , Global Review of Ethnopolitics 1:2 (2001), pp. 130 David Miller, Queens Rebels (Dublin, 1978), pp. 16, 439, 10821 (on contractarianism and the nation and a bit or no-nation theory) Norman Porter, Rethinking Unionism (Belfast: Blackstaff, 1996), ch 3 on cultural unionism James McAuley and Graham Spencer (eds), Ulster Loyalism after the Good Friday Agreement: history, identity and change (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), ch 9 (Mycock, McAuley and Tonge on Loyalism, Orangeism and Britishness) Neil Southern, Ian Paisley and evangelical Democratic Unionists, Irish Political Studies 20:2 (2005), pp. 12745 Peter Shirlow and Mark McGovern (eds), Who are The People? Unionism, Protestantism and loyalism in Northern Ireland (London: Pluto, 1997), esp ch 3 (Morrow) Feargal Cochrane, Unionist Politics and the politics of unionism since the AngloIrish Agreement, 2nd ed (Cork: Cork University Press, 2001), chs 2 (discusses various components of unionism) and 3 (divisions within it) Susan McKay, Northern Protestants: an unsettled people (Belfast: Blackstaff, 2000). Based on qualitative interviews with a number of NI Protestants John Coakley (ed.), Changing Shades of Orange and Green: redefining the union and nation in contemporary Ireland (Dublin: UCD Press, 2002), ch 10 by James McAuley on The emergence of new loyalism, 10622 Colin Coulter, The character of Unionism, Irish Political Studies 9 (1994), pp. 124; more on the non-loyalist than the loyalist side of unionism, but emphasises the divisions within the unionist world-view Christopher Farrington, Ulster Unionist political divisions in the late twentieth century, Irish Political Studies 16 (2001), pp. 4971. Sarah Nelson, Ulsters Uncertain Defenders (Belfast, 1984), pp. 917 (on popular wisdoms about Ulster loyalism) James Loughlin, Ulster Unionism and British National Identity since 1885 (London: Pinter, 1995), chs 10 and conclusion Terence Brown, The Whole Protestant Community: the making of a historical myth (Derry, 1985); a 24-page pamphlet. Fionnuala O Connor, In Search of a State: Catholics in Northern Ireland (Belfast: Blackstaff, 1993), ch 5 on how northern Catholics see Protestants M. Gallagher, How many nations are there in Ireland?, Ethnic and Racial Studies 18:4 (1995), pp. 71539. Asks whether NI Protestants can be seen as a nation, or indeed as more than 1 nation.

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

32

Topic 14: Northern Ireland: is it a problem without a solution?

1 2 3 4 5 6 The background: a plural society. Can the remedy of consociational democracy (power-sharing) be applied? Or does any settlement need to be consociationalism +? Nationalist solutions: unitary state, federal state, joint authority Unionist solutions: return to Stormont, full integration Attempts at a third way, ie options that are neither nationalist nor unionist: powersharing, repartition, independent NI, direct rule Is it better to irrigate the desert than to propose solutions? Long-term factors that might have a transformative impact: the European Union, demographic change in NI, secularisation in Republic of Ireland, transformation of the UK into a non-Protestant, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural state. Do these point to a united Ireland as the most likely outcome?

Reading:
On solutions / proposals generally: Kevin Boyle & Tom Hadden, Ireland: a positive proposal (Harmondsworth, 1985), ch 2; on why the simple solutions ... will not work. John McGarry & Brendan OLeary (eds), The Future of Northern Ireland (Oxford, 1990). In chs 210 various contributors discuss (and in some cases advocate) just these simple solutions; in ch 11 the editors assess the options Paul Mitchell and Rick Wilford (eds), Politics in Northern Ireland (Boulder: Westview and PSAI Press, 1999), ch 12, Futures by Paul Mitchell Brendan OLeary & John McGarry, The Politics of Antagonism: understanding NI, 2nd ed (London, 1996), ch 8 J. H. Whyte, Interpreting Northern Ireland (Oxford, 1990), ch 10. Pessimistic review of all solutions Paul Arthur, Special Relationships: Britain, Ireland and the Northern Ireland problem (Belfast: Blackstaff, 2000), chs 9 and 10 On consociationalism / power-sharing: John McGarry and Brendan OLeary, The Northern Ireland Conflict: consociational engagements (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), ch 1 on Consociational theory and NI Donald L Horowitz, Explaining the Northern Ireland Agreement: the sources of an unlikely constitutional consensus, British Journal of Political Science 32:2 (2002), 193220 Sujit Choudhry (ed.), Constitutional Design for Divided Societies: integration or accommodation? (Oxford UP, 2008), ch 11 (McGarry and OLeary) Sen Byrne, Consociational and civic society approaches to peacebuilding in NI, Journal of Peace Research 38:3 (2001), pp. 32752, on the GFA as coerced consociationalism and the need for bridge-building at civil society level as well Arend Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies (New Haven and London, 1977), chs 13, pp. 13441; outlines the plural society / consociational democracy model John Whyte, How is the boundary maintained between the two communities in NI?, Ethnic and Racial Studies 9:2 (1986), 21934. On NI as a plural society and what keeps it that way. Rupert Taylor, The injustice of a consociational solution to the Northern Ireland problem, ch 17 in Rupert Taylor (ed.), Consociational Theory: McGarry and OLeary and the Northern Ireland conflict (Routledge, 2009); criticises the thinking behind the consociational idea John Garry, Consociationalism and its critics: evidence from the historic Northern Ireland Assembly election 2007, Electoral Studies 28:3 (2009), 45866.

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

33

On long-term factors: (i) the potential and likely impact of the EU: John Coakley and Liam ODowd (eds), Crossing the Border: new relationships between NI and the Republic of Ireland (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2008), ch 5 by Etain Tannam Katy Hayward, National territory in European space: reconfiguring the island of Ireland, European Journal of Political Research 45:6 (2006), 897920 Paul Hainsworth, Northern Ireland and the European Union, pp. 12938 in Arthur Aughey and Duncan Morrow (eds), Northern Ireland Politics (London: Longman, 1996) Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd, The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: power, conflict and emancipation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), ch 11 advocate an emancipatory approach; pp. 27988 on NI and the EU Michael Keating and John McGarry (eds), Minority Nationalism and the Changing International Order (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001): John McGarry, Globalisation, European integration and the NI conflict, pp. 295324 Paul Bew and Elizabeth Meehan, Regions and borders: controversies in NI about the EU, Journal of European Public Policy 1:1 (1994), pp. 95113 (ii) changing demographics Paul Doherty, The numbers game: the demographic context of politics, pp. 199209 in Arthur Aughey and Duncan Morrow (eds), Northern Ireland Politics (London: Longman, 1996) John McGarry and Brendan OLeary, Explaining Northern Ireland: broken images (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995), pp. 398405; on demographic change David Watt (ed.), The Constitution of Northern Ireland (London, 1981), pp. 7499 (Compton and Walsh on changing demographics) Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times articles, 4 Jan 2012 and 12 December 2012 (available on online noticeboard and module Blackboard page) (iii) change in the UK and in NI unionists attitudes to Britain Edna Longley, Strangers in the Capitol, Dublin Review 29 (winter 200708), pp. 4362 John Barry, National identities, historical narratives and patron states in Northern Ireland, pp. 189204 in Michael Waller and Andrew Linklater (eds), Political Loyalty and the Nation-State (London: Routledge, 2003) Richard English and Graham Walker (eds), Unionism in Modern Ireland: new perspectives on politics and culture (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996). Look through it for points relevant to changes in the UK, esp the chapters by MacBride and Hennessey

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

34

Exams The Departments Undergraduate Handbook at has some general points on how to approach exams.
http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/undergraduate/module-outlines/UndergradHandbook.pdf

As explained on the first handout (p. 3), the exam will consist of 11 questions, and you will have 3 hours to answer any 4 of these. To answer the questions well, you need a good degree of knowledge of the material: what was said in the lectures, what is in the relevant textbook chapter, what points you discovered in the further reading you did. However, knowledge alone does not determine the exam mark, and two people who know approximately the same amount might still get very different exam marks. The way you use your knowledge, the way you evaluate it, and the way you tailor it to the question are all important. Here are some points that are worth bearing in mind: (i) make sure that you are answering the question. Dont just churn out all you know on a topic; select those aspects of your knowledge that are relevant to answering the specific question, and make sure that your answer actually does address that question. (ii) dont just regurgitate lecture notes. Lecture notes are, its hoped, useful, but they do not come on tablets of stone. Learn to supplement them by additional reading, evaluate them, criticise them. (iii) dont adopt an uncritical attitude to the material youve read. If you encounter an argument X in a book by author A, you might present this as: X meaning, A says X, so X must be true. Better is: A says X which shows that you are aware that X is merely a argument by A rather than an unquestionable truth. Better still: A says X but B says Y. Best of all: A says X, B says Y, and for the following reasons my view is ... Be aware that there are disagreements within the political science literature, and that youre expected to know about these. (iv) make sure your exam answers are presented clearly. Write legibly, leave an empty line between paragraphs, start each question on a new page, etc.

PO3630 Irish Politics 201213

35

Assignment 3 (to be submitted via www.turnitin.com by 11.59 pm on Monday 11 March, i.e. week 9 of term 2 Assess the relative importance of religion and of national identity as factors in the Northern Ireland problem. Reading: From the readings for Topic 12. For discussion of what the Northern Ireland problem is, see items in the readings for Topics 11, 12 and 14. Dont forget that the first page of your essay needs to be the Schools Assignment Submission Form, signed by you. Its downloadable from both the modules BlackBoard page and the module online noticeboard, which is accessible from: http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/undergraduate/moduleoutlines/js/irish-politics/

The John Whyte Trust Fund (established in memory of John Whyte, who conducted extensive research on NI before his death in 1990) awards an annual prize (of the order of 200) for the best undergraduate essay on a NI topic. This is open to undergraduates at all the universities in Ireland. Essays written for the TCD Irish Politics course have won this prize, or shared in it, in several previous years (previous years Trinity winners on on-line noticeboard). Essays to be submitted need to be the original essay (with the comments of the marker written on them), and will normally have got an excellent mark from the marker. If you wish your essay to be considered for the prize, you should submit it to me by 9 April; I am required to submit to the trustees of the fund the best three from those submitted to me.