Understanding the case of Northern Ireland is essential for any student of political science and history because it not only provides an object lesson in partition, conflict, management, and peacebuilding that is applicable to other contexts, but it also underlines, through Brexit, how much care the local and international community must take in maintaining a fragile peace. This course situates Northern Ireland in the frames of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Europe, providing students with a study of how formal politics, street politics, and paramilitarism have combined to write the history of a disputed territory characterized by ethno-sectarian conflict. The course will interrogate the prevailing “anti-imperialist” and “religious war” narrative by adding other lenses through which to view the conflict such as class, gender, culture, and the international influence of rights-based movements, reconciliation efforts, and Brexit. Students will also examine the political evolution of Northern Ireland from a comparative point of view to provide a broader context to the understanding of politics in other disputed territories throughout the word.

This course approaches the political evolution of contemporary Northern Ireland by placing it in a framework of Irish partition and evaluating how the systemic perpetuation of privilege has led to sectarianism, competing notions of nationalism, civil rights action, political violence, and terror. The course explores Northern Irish history from the foundation of the region to the Troubles, political efforts to create the conditions for peace and reconciliation, comparative political perspectives, and international case studies that speak to peacebuilding in divided societies. The course finishes by exploring the political and historic implications of Brexit and beyond as political and economic structures evolve. During the course students will have various opportunities to explore film and television depictions of the issues covered in the readings and write researched reflections on where popular culture diverges from and reflects the political evolution of both parts of Ireland.

The assignments are designed to cultivate critical thinking, teach students about political and sociological research methodologies and theoretical frameworks, and guide students in advanced argumentation through writing and discussion. Over the course of the semester students will construct increasingly more complex discussion questions, write more sophisticated reading reflections, and engage both primary and secondary sources to advance a solid original argument.

By the end of the course the student will

•       Understand how the Northern Irish “Troubles” developed historically predating partition of the island of Ireland and students will be able to articulate the links between politics, history and culture.

•       Analyze how social movements, street politics and popular culture have contributed to the history and political development of the region

•       Appreciate the challenges inherent to managing the peace process within the context of demographic and social change and how these changes interact with the United Kingdom’s evolving relationship with the European Union

•       Evaluate how the conflict in Northern Ireland relates to wider theoretical frameworks involving conflict management and resolution, security policy, and consociationalism in divided societies

•       Understand the major debates surrounding qualitative research ethics and methodologies involving oral history and interviews as well as how to evaluate sourcing based on these methodologies

•       Integrate primary and secondary sourcing into both written work and oral presentations to inform an original argument

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS, DEADLINES, AND EXAMINATION POLICY

Absences should be rare and reserved for unforeseen circumstances. You cannot make up a midterm or final without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Associate Dean’s office should not be involved in correspondence regarding any other type of routine absence. This means that if you need to return home for a funeral, if you need to go to the dentist, if you have a fingerprinting appointment, if you are ill, or for any other reason that I have not listed, you simply do not come to class that day and you contact a colleague to find out what went on in class. Let us all agree that if you need to be absent, I believe you and I trust that you will find out what you missed from a colleague. Let’s create a world in which we believe each other and trust that we would be in class every session if we could. Let us focus on building skills of direct student-professor communication rather than asking others to intervene on routine absence matters on our behalf.  It should go without saying that frequent absences will mean you are less prepared to meet the learning objectives of the course. Thus, your grade will suffer because, simply put, you are unfamiliar with what we have done in class. At the 5th absence (5 is a lot! Too much!), you will be asked to withdraw from the course. A failure to attend 70% of the class meetings will result in an F.

There are always one or two obvious common sense extreme exceptions to this aspiration, but generally it is best to avoid triggering institutional responses for routine short-term absences. The bottom line is that every student, including you, is a treasured resource for each class. We need you as much as you need us. Without you, it's just not the same.

If you are unsure of what a superior level of classroom engagement looks like, please consult the Class Engagement Rubric posted to Moodle.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

The very point of why we are all here is that we want to develop ourselves into well-rounded life-long learners. Cutting corners with paper-writing services and AI, or recycling older papers cheapens everyone’s experience of the course and professors tend to take it personally. A good rule is that if you have to ask, “Is this okay to do?”, it probably is not. If you are unsure, it can't hurt to ask.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE

This is a sample of the types of readings that will be assigned. Students should consult Moodle for more specific assignments.

Weeks 1-4 – History, 1921-Troubles

Week 1 – Establishment of the State

-      Revolution in the popular imagination - Pearse, Michael Collins, Fields of Athenry 

-     The Course, Research, policies, grading, Feb 6 (class location) and April 29 Cancelled (Make up Belfast film screening)

-        Film 1 – Michael Collins film and the creation of Northern Ireland

Week 2 – Discrimination and Civil Rights

-       Cochrane, Ch. 1, 2 on Perusall

Week 3 – Troubles, Direct Rule, Informal Politics

-        Cochrane, Ch. 3 on Perusall

-        Film – I, Dolours on Kanopy

-    Film - Northern Ireland: A Fragile Peace on Perusall (preparation for expert visit on Thursday)

Week 4 –Talking to the Enemy, The International Dimension

-        Cochrane 4, 5 on Perusall

-        Film 3 – Belfast (Screening together)

Weeks 5-7 – Peace and Reconciliation

Week 5 –Conflict management in divided societies

- Cochrane Ch. 6, 7 on Perusall

-        Zartman I.W., Alfredson T. “Negotiating with Terrorists and the Tactical Question” In: I William Zartman: A Pioneer in Conflict Management and Area Studies (2019).

-        Zartman I.W., “Dynamics and Constraints in Negotiating Internal Conflicts”, In: I William Zartman: A Pioneer in Conflict Management and Area Studies (2019)

Week 6 – Peacebuilding, Transitional Justice, The Good Friday Agreement Midterm

-        Lijphart, Arend. “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies”, Journal of Democracy (2004, pp. 96-109).

-        Hammond-Callaghan, M. “‘Peace Women’, Gender and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: From Reconciliation and Political Inclusion to Human Rights and Human Security.” Building Peace in Northern Ireland (pp. 93-110)

-        Roulston, Bill and Finnuoala Ni Aolainn, “Colonialism, Redress and Transitional Justice: Ireland and Beyond” State Crime Journal (2018, pp. 323-348).

  Class 2 - MIDTERM EXAM

Week 7 – Conscociationalism  and Dissent in Ireland

- Research questions

 -  Excerpts from Taylor, Rupert, ed. Conscociational Theory (London, 2009).

-        Dixon, P., “Power-Sharing in Deeply Divided Societies: Consociationalism and Sectarian Authoritarianism”, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (2020, pp. 117-127)

- Cochrane, Ch 8 Implementation

• Thursday, 6 March, class cancelled - Made up with Belfast screening

The comparative aspect -  Weeks 8-10

Week 8 – Comparative aspects, Other lenses

- Gathering sources

-  Excerpts from McGarry, John, ed. Northern Ireland and the Divided World: Post-Agreement Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective (London, 2001).

-        Hammond-Callaghan, M. ‘Peace Women’, Gender and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: From Reconciliation and Political Inclusion to Human Rights and Human Security.” Building Peace in Northern Ireland (pp. 93-110).

-        Gilligan, Chris and Susan Ball, “Fractures, Foreigners and Fitting In: Exploring Attitudes towards Immigration and Integration in ‘Post-Conflict’ Northern Ireland”. In: Migration and Divided Societies (London, 2014).

-        Film 3 – Shake Hands with the Devil or The Look of Silence and widening the lens of peace building on Kanopy

Week 9 – Case studies - 

- Gathering sources and How to Write a Literature Review

-  Excerpts from McGarry, John, ed. Northern Ireland and the Divided World: Post-Agreement Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective (London, 2001).

-        Ni Ceallaghain, Orla, “Northern Ireland and Israel-Palestine: Spoilers and the Politics of Inclusion” Politikon (2010, pp. 50-65)

-        Introduction, Conclusion, Knox, Colin and Padraic Quirk, Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland, Israel and South Africa (London, 2000).

 -        Final paper - proposals

-        10-minute conferences

 Week 10 –Peace moving forward

-  Cochrane, Ch. 9 on Perusall

- Excerpts from Ashe, Fidelma, Gender, Nationalism and Conflict Transformation: New Themes and Old Problems and Northern Ireland Politics (London, 2019).

-        Excerpts from Biggar, N. (ed.), Burying the Past: Making Peace and Doing Justice After Civil Conflict (Georgetown, 2003)

-         Library session on preparing your literature review

 Brexit - Weeks 11-13

Week 11 – Voting Brexit

- In-class literature review

-  Cochrane, Ch 10 on Perusall

- Connelly, E., “Brexit and the Irish Border” European Journal of Legal Studies (2019, pp. 153-186).

-        McCann, G. & Paul Hainsworth, “Brexit and Northern Ireland: the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union”, Irish Political Studies, (2017 pp. 327-342)

-        Murphy, M.C., “Northern Ireland and Brexit: where sovereignty and stability collide?”, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, (2021, pp. 405-418)

Week 12 – Brexit, Northern Ireland and the EU

-  10-minute conferences

-        Working Papers on Brexit by the Brexit Institute at Dublin City College

- Cochrane, Ch. 11

-        Tonge, Jonathan. “The Impact and Consequences of Brexit for Northern Ireland” European Parliament Briefing Paper (2017).

-        The United Kingdom’s Exit from and new Partnership with the European Union - British White Paper (2017).

Week 13

-        Cochrane Epilogue

-       Paper due

Week 14 

- Class 1 - Cancelled 29 April - Oral presentations due posted to Moodle (made up through presentation and reflection process as well as conferences)

- Revision activity posted to Moodle

 - Holiday May 1 (made up 28 Feb)

Finals Week