Topic 5: Politics and Society in Northern Ireland, 1949–1993
Perspective Elements
Politics and administration
From Brookeborough to O’Neill; the Civil Rights movement; emergence of the Provisional IRA; the fall of Stormont; Direct Rule; Republican and Loyalist terrorism; Sunningdale and power- sharing; the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985.
The Republic – responses to the ’Troubles’ The Downing Street Declaration, 1993.
Society and economy
Impact of Welfare State: education, health, housing. Social and economic developments prior to 1969.
Impact of the ‘Troubles’: (a) the economy; (b) society – education, health, housing.
Culture and religion
Religious affiliation and cultural identity; ecumenism; cultural responses to the ‘Troubles’.
The Apprentice Boys of Derry
In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.
Another ‘key’ to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certain key concepts.
The Coleraine University controversy Case Studies
The Sunningdale Agreement and the Power-sharing Executive, 1973–1974
Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:
Conn and Patricia McCluskey; Captain Terence O’Neill; Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey; Brian Faulkner; James Molyneaux; Margaret Thatcher; Gerry Adams; Ian Paisley; John Hume; Seamus Heaney
gerrymandering ecumenism sectarianism civil rights bigotry terrorism power-sharing propaganda cultural identity cultural traditions
