The Identity of Northern Ireland: a Change Over Time
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The Identity of Northern Ireland: A Change over Time Jonathan Corr European Studies: Politics, Societies, and Cultures Bachelor Thesis 15 ECTS Credits Autumn, 2020 Supervisor: Derek Hutcheson Abstract The result of Brexit in 2016 gave rise to an imposing question for many political scholars, what will happen to Northern Ireland? The region had seen a continuous divide since its establishment under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, with violence taking center stage over three decades in what has become known as ‘The Troubles’. This period led to the death of some three thousand plus people. All had then been stabilized by the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which sought to ensure cooperation amongst the political parties, as well as the disarmament of paramilitary groups. Brexit may now pressure this peaceful period as we see Northern Ireland becoming an increasing focal point between the Republic of Ireland, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. They all look to establish a more defined political foothold in Northern Ireland as it plays an increasingly larger role for the future of Europe. Internally, Northern Ireland also has the ideologies of its citizens who still have strong beliefs in how the region should move forward. Nationalists still long for unification, uniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, while Unionists demand that they remain a part of the United Kingdom. Brexit is a major factor for the people of Northern Ireland, it has swayed their opinion in favor of belonging to the European Union although they still proceeded to leave at the end of January this year. This thesis explores the idea of Northern Ireland’s identity, whether it will sway in the opinion of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland or become something new entirely. Keywords: Northern Ireland, identity, nation 2 For my mother, who was always been my biggest fan 3 Table of Contents 1. List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………….pg.5 2. Introduction………………………………………………………………pg.6 2.1 A Northern Irish Brexit……………………………………………………pg.7 2.2 The 2019 British General Election………………………………………..pg.8 2.3 What’s to Come?………………………………………………………….pg.9 3. Previous Research & Literature Review……………………………….pg.9 4. Research Aim and Questions……………………………………………pg.11 4.1 Relevance………………………………………………………………….pg.11 5. Theoretical framework…………………………………………………..pg.12 5.1 Social Identity Theory……………………………………………………..pg.12 5.2 Cultural Identity Theory…………………………………………………...pg.13 5.3 Nationalism………………………………………………………………...pg.14 5.4 Nations……………………………………………………………………..pg.14 6. Methodology………………………………………………………………pg.14 7. Analysis……………………………………………………………………pg.16 7.1 The Historical Factor…………………………………………………..pg.17 7.1.1 The Colonization of Ireland……………………………………………pg.17 7.1.2 The Rise of Unionism………………………………………………….pg.18 7.1.3 Irish Independence……………………………………………………..pg.19 7.1.4 The Partition of Northern Ireland……………………………………...pg.19 7.1.5 Conflict & Peace………………………………………………………pg.20 7.1.6 Historical Identity Claims……………………………………………..pg.21 7.2 The Politica l Factor……………………………………………………pg.22 7.2.1 Post – Good Friday Agreement……………………………………….pg.22 7.2.2 The Current State of Affairs…………………………………………..pg.23 7.2.3 The European Union & United Kingdom…………………………….pg.24 7.3 Other Factors………………………………………………………….pg.25 7.3.1 Culture in Northern Ireland…………………………………………...pg.25 7.3.2 Religion in Northern Ireland………………………………………….pg.25 4 8. Northern Irish Identity………………………………………………….pg.26 9. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..pg.28 9.1 Future Research…………………………………………………………...pg.30 10. Reference List……………………………………………………………pg.32 1. List of Abbreviations DUP – Democratic Unionist Party EU – European Union IRA – Irish Republican Army GFA – Good Friday Agreement NIA – Northern Ireland Assembly ROI – Republic of Ireland UK – United Kingdom UKIP – United Kingdom Independence Party UVF – Ulster Volunteer Force 5 2. Introduction The history of Northern Ireland being in a state of disorder is long and difficult to comprehend. Over a period of four hundred years it has developed into a place with many different conflicting interests. It is a small region with two very distinct groups that have formed in opposition of one another. Nationalists and Republicans form a group that are very much in line with the ideology of maintaining Irish cultural heritage. They see themselves as Irish people, on the island of Ireland yet they view themselves as being cut off from the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and in fact, part of the United Kingdom (UK). Opposing, there are the Unionists and Loyalists who pride themselves on being a part of the UK. A strong relationship with the rest of the UK is integral for their survival as they do not want to see a reunification with the ROI. The justification for their causes is well ingrained into the minds of each person living in Northern Ireland. This thesis looks at this mindful battleground for the control over the direction of Northern Ireland’s identity. The past has not been kind to Northern Ireland. Nationalists and Unionists have been dealt with horrendous consequences as a result of their willingness to fight their corner. The height of destruction in Northern Ireland was witnessed over three decades, between 1968-98, a period known as ‘The Troubles’. The region endured civil unrest playing out on their streets, as civilian casualties began to mount up. Global media attention grew around it yet nothing momentous was done to calm the situation. Although peace between the two sides was eventually reached, the conflict left a stain on the region’s history but also the minds of those who lived through it. Both sides still view the militia that died for their cause as martyrs. A strong example being Bobby Sands, who was voted in as an MP while being interned for his links to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the 1970s. He died in prison while on hunger strike, trying to obtain special status. While physica l weapons were used during this period to cause destruction and havoc, today a different game is being played out with politics. The Brexit vote and more recently, the British general election, has only added to this ongoing struggle for control. The division of Northern Ireland has become a repetitive discussion amongst politicians, showing very 6 little unity. Perhaps a change is coming, it has shown through the recent election results, indicating a want for transformation. 2.1 A Northern Irish Brexit Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum on its membership on the 23rd June 2016, by a vote of 51.9% to 48.1%. This is what has been coined as Brexit, the British exit. There are many comments as to how exactly the leave party won out in the end. It is widely accepted that their supporters were grounded in the belief that immigration would be less of an issue, they would lose more of their culture had they remained, and terrorism is less of a factor by leaving (Taylor, 2017). The right-wing mentality behind the vote to leave was greatly supported by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and Nigel Farage, a prominent figurehead for the leave campaign. The Brexit debate was dominated by the topic of immigration, which in turn left very little room to discuss advantages such as: trade and free movement within the European Union (EU). While England and Wales voted to leave, Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain thus altering the relationship between themselves and the UK (Gormley-Heenan & Aughey, 2017). Further discussions were had on the topic of Scottish independence, while Northern Ireland had the immediate issue of having an external border with the EU since the ROI is one of its members. At present, there is no physical border between Northern Ireland and the ROI, it was removed during the establishment of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). The GFA cites the condition that a united Ireland must be “freely and concurrently given” by both the north and south of Ireland (Sargeant & Paun, 2019). There has been a massive reduction in violence since the GFA, but tensions still exist. This is partly due to the segregated educational system which led to individuals from both communit ie s developing a mindset of pro-Catholic, anti-Protestant, and pro-Protestant, anti-Catholic (Haverkort, 2013). Garry (2016) carried out a survey via the Queen’s University Belfast, which investigat ed the voting behaviour of Northern Irish citizens for the Brexit referendum. Reviewing the survey, you can see that those who voted to leave the EU were predominantly Unionist and Protestant. Those who voted to remain shows clear support from those who are 7 Catholic and self-described Irish (Garry 2016). This data shows a clear division between two sides. The Catholic nationalists aligned themselves more with the EU while Protestant unionists sought to be in favour of the UK. All of this has been made visible by the political divisions of the leading parties in Northern Ireland, The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein are a left-wing nationalist party, who called for a referendum on the reunification of Ireland post-Brexit. The referendum was turned down by many major players, as well as the DUP, who was and still is the largest party in the (Northern Irish Assembly) NIA. The DUP, unlike Sinn Fein, take their seats in the House of Commons which can be seen as the central political sphere in Britain. Due to Sinn Fein’s absenteeism the DUP have a stronger say on the political discourse of Northern Ireland. 2.2 The 2019 British General Election Boris Johnson and his conservative party were able to secure a solid victory against his political opponents in the 2019 British General Election. This election was a Brexit election, whose result gave Johnson the power to finally ‘Get Brexit Done’ (Zurcher, 2019). Johnson had a pending deal with the EU to get his Brexit bill passed but needed the support of the House of Commons, and it was only possible to get that with a general election.