{"title":"Troubles and Northern Ireland: Representations in Film of Belfast as a Site of Conflict","authors":"P. Brereton","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0014","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This paper explores three films with very different narratives to help map out and frame British colonial representations of Ireland, and the Northern Ireland conflict in particular, over several decades: from a fatalistic, film noir evocation of a troubled urban landscape in Odd Man Out (1947) to a video-game-like struggle for survival in an urban maze in '71 (2014), culminating in a romantic and ahistorical evocation of a memorialised city-space in Belfast (2021). Much has been written about the long history of struggle and violence in Northern Ireland that is outside the purview of this paper, yet readers need to grapple with this history if they are to fully appreciate and contextualise such complex political, religious, economic and cultural tensions.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"292 - 306"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43449814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Alternative Social Security Scenarios: A Response to 'Social Security in a Unified Ireland' by Mike Tomlinson","authors":"S. McGuinness","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0013","url":null,"abstract":"This research is both welcome and important, as the costs of social security provision in a reunified Ireland will be a central issue for debate in the run-up to any future border poll on constitutional change. The social welfare system has immediate implications for individuals and households through a range of mechanisms including, for example, state pensions, child benefit, unemployment assistance and in-work benefits as well as various types of tax reliefs and credits. Any changes arising to social security entitlements because of constitutional change will be of concern to most voters. Furthermore, social welfare payments account for a large proportion of total public spending and any changes arising from a transition to unity may have implications for future taxation, which will also be an important component in the discussion.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"289 - 291"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42482860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
John Garry, B. O’Leary, Paul Gillespie, Roland Gjoni
{"title":"Public Attitudes to Irish Unification: Evidence on Models and Process from a Deliberative Forum in Ireland","authors":"John Garry, B. O’Leary, Paul Gillespie, Roland Gjoni","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0012","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:We designed and conducted a (virtual) deliberative forum in the Republic of Ireland (N=50) on issues relating to potential Irish unification. We found that our participants, both before and after deliberation, preferred an integrated model of Irish unity in which Northern Ireland would be dissolved (the 'integrated model') to a model of unity in which Northern Ireland persists as a devolved entity but now within a united Ireland (the 'devolved NI model'). We found that deliberation on procedural matters produces a substantial increase in support for specifying the particular model of a united Ireland on offer before any referendum. We also found that deliberation results in a very substantial decrease in support for holding an immediate referendum (within two years), and substantially increased support for a five-to-ten-year time frame. Overall, our findings suggest that public attitudes to models of Irish unity do not change upon learning and deliberation (with robust public preference for the integrated model), implying that if an Irish government's preferred Irish unity model is not in line with Irish public opinion it faces a challenge in shaping the public's views; however, attitudes to process do change as a result of deliberation (in the direction of favouring pre-referendum specification and a non-immediate referendum), implying that the more the public think about these issues, the more likely they are to favour the government providing clarity on the choice before any medium-term referendum.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"247 - 287"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47925072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social Security in a Unified Ireland","authors":"Mike Tomlinson","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0011","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:Assuming a single regime for taxes and benefits, the article examines the implications of Irish unification for social security policy. It compares expenditure north and south, and considers how state pensions—the biggest area of benefits expenditure in both jurisdictions—should be treated in the transition to a unitary Irish state. It also compares north/south rates of poverty for children and pensioners, and the value of the most widely paid benefits, the state pension and child benefit. The Irish and British tax codes are applied to Northern Ireland earnings data in order to assess whether people will be better or worse off at different points on the income spectrum. Employers’ social insurance contributions are also modelled. Finally, data are presented suggesting that the impact of unity may be more positive than is generally assumed, in terms of both net contributions to social insurance and opportunities to reduce poverty.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"228 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44795885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Irish Unity: Lessons from Germany?","authors":"Tobias Lock","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0010","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:What lessons could Ireland learn from German reunification? Its study demonstrates the sheer legal complexities an Irish unification process would herald. Like German reunification, Irish unity would require the completion of negotiations at different levels: internal, bilateral and international, including at EU level. Irish unification would meet a similar degree of legal complexity. Thus legal techniques deployed in Germany—such as frontloading, transition periods and conflict rules—could usefully be employed in Ireland. Some of the substantive questions to be resolved would be very similar, for example questions around the merger of two distinct legal, administrative and judicial systems. Others, such as how to deal with the legacies of the past, would also arise, but are more context-specific and require bespoke solutions. Some issues are unparalleled, such as the need to introduce a completely different economic order in East Germany or the protection of a unionist minority in a united Ireland.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"201 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48043806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘To Be British, Irish, or Both’: Understanding Language Rights as a Tool for Reconciliation in Northern Ireland","authors":"Róisín A Costello","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0009","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:Language rights and the official recognition of languages other than English have proved a source of tension in political negotiations in Northern Ireland. The recognition of Irish and the provision of rights for Irish users have been portrayed as representing an unacceptable elevation of ‘republican’ or ‘nationalist’ values. While an agreement to provide for language rights was included in the ‘New Decade, New Approach’ agreement, subsequent legislative change has been lacking. Building on existing work that queries bright-line associations between linguistic, political and community identities in Northern Ireland, this article traces the development of language rights in the jurisdiction and argues that official languages legislation has potential as a source for reconciliation. The article also argues that such an approach to language rights can offer a coherent basis from which to establish new models for constitutional linguistic recognition in a united Ireland or in a newly constituted Northern Irish state.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"172 - 200"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44985557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Participatory Constitutionalism and the Agenda for Change: Socio-economic Issues in Irish Constitutional Debates","authors":"J. McEvoy, J. Todd, D. Walsh","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0008","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:Processes of constitution making and change increasingly involve popular participation and deliberation. Though constitutional theory assumes positive outcomes of participation, we know relatively little about the role of citizens in shaping the constitutional process. This article investigates how the participation of grassroots communities can shape the constitutional agenda, widening debate beyond institutional models to include everyday issues of importance to citizens. In parallel research projects in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we explored how diverse communities (women’s groups, ethnic minority communities and youth) approach the constitutional question. Participants expressed a desire to participate and a clear intention to change the questions away from contentious high- constitutional issues of sovereignty and borders towards ‘bread and butter’ socio-economic issues. We discuss the ways in which socio-economic issues may be of constitutional significance, we draw lessons from comparative experience, and we propose ways to advance the research agenda on participatory constitutionalism.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"140 - 171"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46112647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Policing in a United Ireland: The Intractable Questions of Governance, Oversight and Accountability","authors":"V. Conway","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0006","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:This article considers the impact of a shared island on police governance, accountability and oversight. Having outlined a framework for conceptualising each of these terms, it provides a history of policing on the island and an overview of the current structures. It then turns its attention to what options exist for a shared island, from retention to mergers and the creation of new services. The intricacies of each are teased out, including both practical and political issues. It establishes how complex the issues are, and the ripple effects of slight changes. Ultimately the article argues that to ensure the legitimacy of the police and the effective achievement of policing and human rights goals, the creation of one or more new services, and the separation of state security, may be necessary.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"100 - 71"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44693896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soft Power and the Building of Cultural Relations: A Response to 'A Shared Ireland? Identity, Meaning, Representation and Sport' By Katie Liston and Joseph Maguire","authors":"G. Jarvie","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"137 - 139"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47318749","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Shared Ireland? Identity, Meaning, Representation and Sport","authors":"Katie Liston, J. Maguire","doi":"10.1353/isia.2022.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.2022.0005","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:This paper examines historical and contemporary interdependencies in Ireland, north and south. We explore how individual and group identities and traditions on the island were and are understood, felt, expressed and promoted through the medium of modern sport, a powerful transfer mechanism for culture. We examine the interweaving of sportcraft and statecraft, and how group notions of identity contour and shape possibilities for engagement that might, in some conditions, allow for potential mutual understanding and reconciliation. We analyse 'Ireland' and Irish–British relations through the historical and contemporary development of Olympic sports and track and field athletics, in the spirit of a public and policy sociology about a shared Ireland; this can potentially inform decisions about sport-related issues. Without reference to the centrality of sport for identities, considerations of a shared Ireland are more likely both to reaffirm silences, shadows and collective amnesia and to limit future opportunities.","PeriodicalId":39181,"journal":{"name":"Irish Studies in International Affairs","volume":"33 1","pages":"101 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47420910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}