The Northern Ireland Question: Perspectives on Nationalism and Unionism

Book excerpt: The contributions to this book challenge much conventional understanding of a number of important issues relating the Troubles. These include: the genesis and establishment of a functioning government in Northern Ireland in the context of Ireland's turbulent post-1916 revolutionary period; claims of systematic unionist discrimination in housing and employment and the origins of the Northern Ireland civil rights movement; the ideology of Irish nationalism particularly its traditional sectarian exclusivism and its legitimization of violence and the decisive contribution of the security forces in bringing the conflict to an end. The contributions relating to the post-1998 period explore post-Brexit unionist and nationalist 'expectations and anxieties' within the framework of patterns of thought embedded in nationalism and unionism and assess the operation of the institutions of government in Northern Ireland; the political motivations that have directed dealing with the past and current economic arguments for Irish unity.