First published in 1999, this volume was the third in a trilogy on the 'problem' of Northern Ireland. It examines the political content of the unionist and nationalist 'ideologies' which have emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Ireland. The focus of the book is also to examine and assess the impact of unionist and nationalist thinking and commitment on political and economic life in the twentieth century.

Barton and Roche have drawn on the expertise of scholars in Irish history, political philosophy, sociology, demography and criminal and constitutional law to provide a major contribution to understanding the dynamics of the terrorist conflict that engulfed Northern Ireland for thirty years. The legal dimension of the book provides accessible understanding both of the use of the criminal law in response to terrorism and of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland prior to the 1998 Belfast Agreement. The Northern Ireland Question: Myth and Reality explicates the civic character of unionism which differentiates unionism as a form of political identity from the ethnicity of traditional Irish nationalism. The contributions explore the ambiguities of southern Irish politics with respect to 'the Northern Ireland question' and challenge a conventional and widely accepted understanding (inimical to unionism and unionists) of the genesis of the terrorist conflict in Northern Ireland and the extent of discrimination under the Stormont administration but without loss of objectivity and professional detachment.

Whilst there are any number of books on the subject of Northern Ireland, few provide much guidance on how it has been handled by Westminster and Whitehall, or indeed the extent to which British governments and Parliament has tried to avoid having to handle the issue. This book provides a much needed historical context in which to assess contemporary approaches to the Northern Ireland problem and, in essays covering the period from the establishment of the Northern Ireland state to the present day, points to many often overlooked continuities in British policy.

The problems of modern Ireland have attracted the attention of many British political leaders from Gladstone to Major. Attempts to formulate a 'solution' have been governed by the British perception of what the problem is, and by the structures, as well as the ideas of British party politics and British political life: Ireland was never a laboratory in which dispassionate political experiments could be conducted. Modern Ireland has been shaped by British policy, and this has itself been influenced by British political habits and traditions, social and economic reforms, and new governmental institutions have been applied by politicians both of the left and the right. The 'Framework Documents' represent the latest attempt to achieve what Gladstone, David Lloyd George and Neville Chamberlain sought, and failed to achieve: a lasting settlement of the political divisions within Ireland, and between Ireland the Great Britain. This book places the Irish question in the wider context of the history of the British Isles, and thus seeks to explain its special place in British history as the 'Oldest Question', and as a question for contemporary Britain. Fully revised and with a new chapter to bring the analysis up to 1996, this new edition of Professor Boyce's work will be widely acclaimed.

Originally published in 1940 but here reissuing the revised third edition of 1975, this book analyses the Irish Question. The study is not a narrative history. While the problems with which it deals have been suggested by the period it covers, it is with the problems and not the period that it is focussed on. Those problems are: the interrelation of economic and social with political forces; the impact of Irish discontent on the Liberal conversion to Home Rule; the character of the political, cultural and social forces behind revolutionary Irish nationalism; and the changing nature of the concept itself. Much attention is given to the implications of Anglo-Irish relations in the wider context of nationalist-imperial conflicts and critical studies are made of the writings of de Tocqueville, Cavour, Marx, Engels and Lenin among others on the Irish Question.

From 1800 to 1922 the Irish Question was the most emotional and divisive issue in British politics. It pitted Westminster politicians, anti-Catholic British public opinion, and Irish Protestant and Presbyterian champions of the Union against the determination of Ireland's large Catholic majority to obtain civil rights, economic justice, and cultural and political independence. In this completely revised and updated edition of The Irish Question, Lawrence J. McCaffrey extends his classic analysis of Irish nationalism to the present day. He makes clear the tortured history of British-Irish relations and offers insight into the difficulties now facing those who hope to create a permanent peace in Northern Ireland.

Originally published in 1936, The Government of Northern Ireland examines the practical operation of devolution which was granted to Northern Ireland in 1920. The later phases of the Ulster Question, interacting with a theoretic conception of devolution, provide the historical background in the light of which early 20th Century government in Ireland is analysed. The political, administrative and financial relations between the (then Imperial) and subordinate Parliament, the powers and personnel of the local legislature and the character of the local government are all discussed. The achievement of self-government in Northern Ireland is summarized with special regard to the desirability of a similar grant of devolution to Scotland and Wales.

For nearly thirty years Northern Ireland has been a by-word for terrorism, bloodshed, military coercion and intense communal conflict. However, Ireland is now experiencing a transition from a society in conflict to one at peace. Where did the violence come from and why could it not be pacified? Why has it taken thirty years to solve the Northern Irish conflict, and why did early attempts at settlement fail? Jeremy Smith explores these questions by placing the events in context with wider British and European patterns, giving the first in-depth study of the history of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

This is an introduction to the best available scholarship within Irish politics, featuring the most influential and significant articles which have been published on Irish politics during the past twenty years. Each article is accompanied by a new commentary by another leading scholar which addresses the impact and contribution of the article and discusses how its themes remain crucial today. The book covers all the most important topics within Irish politics including political culture and traditions, political institutions and parties and the peace process. The combination of the best original scholarship and contemporary commentaries on the core political issues makes Irish Political Studies Reader an invaluable resource for all students and scholars of Irish politics.