British and Irish Politics

Catalog description

Explores the evolution of the Anglo-Irish relationship from Ireland's break with the United Kingdom following the Easter Rising (1916) and its War of Independence (1919-1922) and Civil War (1922-23) through to the foundation of the Irish Free State, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Northern Ireland Troubles (1969-1998) and signing of the Good Friday Agreement (1998) up to the recent ructions caused by Brexit (2016-). Key themes will include the dynamics of decolonization; the politics of nationalism, republicanism and unionism; post-colonial and post-imperial state building; emigration; civil rights; paramilitarism; collusion and state violence; peacebuilding; European integration and neoliberal globalization. Attention will be paid to the major political forces and personalities which reshaped this relationship, from Michael Collins, Eamon De Valera, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill to Gerry Adams, Bertie Ahern, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.