2. The government

‘The government’ discusses the developing Troubles from the British government’s perspective. The British government introduced troops onto the streets of Northern Ireland to deal with the escalating tensions that exploded in August 1969. Britain was anxious to sustain the existence of the Stormont system and feared having to introduce ‘direct rule’ from London. The logical consequence of this was sustaining the political legitimacy of the Unionist government in Northern Ireland. The encounters between the British army and Catholics did much to reinforce nationalist assumptions about British oppression. The increasing violence, subsequent direct rule, the restoration of devolution, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and the 1990s peace process resulting in the 1998 Belfast Agreement are all discussed.

1. The origins of the Troubles

The conflict in Northern Ireland was the product of the collision of two groups and, over the long span of time, involved much more peaceful coexistence than active conflict. This was never, however, particularly happy cohabitation. ‘The origins of the Troubles’ outlines the history of Northern Ireland from the bloody conquest of Catholic Gaelic Ulster by Elizabethan England at the end of the 16th century through to partition and the start of sectarian violence. It describes the 17th-century Protestant migration from across the Irish Sea and subsequent Catholic rebellions. The Irish Home Rule movement is also discussed, along with the steps that led to partition and the establishment of the Northern Ireland state.

5. The twenty-first century

‘The twenty-first century’ explains how the Good Friday Agreement saw considerable institutional restructuring in Northern Ireland. An Assembly was elected in 1998, with a power-sharing government, with David Trimble of the UUP as First Minister and Seamus Mallon of the SDLP as Deputy First Minister operating between 1998 and 2001. Between 2001 and 2007, the power-sharing government collapsed and the DUP and Sinn Féin succeeded in becoming the main political parties for their respective communities. The 2006 St Andrews Agreement brought the extremes together. The power-sharing government collapsed once more in 2017 when Sinn Féin withdrew. Identity politics in Northern Ireland and the impact of Brexit on the Northern Ireland question are also discussed.

3. Paramilitarism

The culture of paramilitarism in Ireland was undiminished by the world wars. The Ulster Volunteer Force became a founding myth for Northern Ireland with the annual Orange parades being a quasi-formal institution of the state. After the 1916 Rebellion, the Irish Volunteers evolved into the Irish Republican Army (IRA). ‘Paramilitarism’ discusses the resurgence of both loyalism and republicanism in the 1960s and the rationale behind the violence on both sides. It describes how paramilitarism became consolidated as a ‘way of life’; the 1976 Peace People marches; the IRA ‘Long War’ strategy; the hunger strikes; the impact of the Anglo-Irish Agreement; the rise of Sinn Féin; and the peace process from the paramilitary perspective.

4. The political parties

During the violent years of the Troubles, those political parties that disavowed the lethal violence of paramilitaries—both nationalist and unionist—were generally referred to as ‘the constitutional parties’. In reality, all political actors in Northern Ireland found themselves in a situation where they tried to turn violence to their political advantage. ‘The political parties’ first outlines the different strategies of the ‘moderate’ Ulster Unionist Party and the ‘ultra’ Democratic Unionist Party before considering how nationalism came together to dominate the Catholic electorate in the shape of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. It then discusses the political processes that led to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Introduction

Northern Ireland is a case study of civil conflict and peace building. For Catholics, the conflict was essentially about nationality, for Protestants, it was essentially about religion. The Northern Ireland conflict was not simply a matter of two communities facing off, but rather a dispute about how the issues at conflict were to be defined and managed. The British government was a crucial active agent, one which saw itself as above the fray but in so doing was deluded about its own interests, prejudices, and motivations. This new edition incorporates the first two decades of the 21st century, including the Brexit crisis, which has flung Northern Ireland to the forefront of UK-wide political calculations.