Power and Conflict in Northern Ireland, 1963-1972

Course Description

This module explores power struggles in Northern Ireland from Terence O?Neill?s accession to power in 1963 to the emergence of civil rights movement and the subsequent outbreak of conflict in 1968. It traces the escalation of the conflict up to the collapse of Stormont in 1972. It considers a variety of strategies for change ? political activism, mass demonstrations, propaganda and armed struggles, as well as a variety of government strategies to contain unrest. The seminars will focus on events from the perspectives of various individuals and groups involved, looking at memoirs, radical publications, parliamentary debates, official publications, government enquiries and film footage. It will also examine academic studies and theoretical interpretations of these events. At the end of this module students should be able to:
- Show a knowledge and understanding of key developments in this period
- Demonstrate the capacity to explain both Catholic and Protestant interpretations of events
- Evaluate the responses of Irish and British governments to key developments
- Discuss the short-term and long-term consequences of events
- Relate events to their international contexts
- Acquire familiarity with different theoretical interpretations of events and be able to evaluate their
relative usefulness
- Critically analyse memoirs, political writings and official documents from the period
- Present historical arguments orally
- Carry out a research exercise and present findings in a scholarly manner

Reading:
The module is based mainly on primary sources. In addition, students should read
Hennessey, T, Northern Ireland: The Origins of the Troubles (Dublin, 2005)
Ó Dochartaigh, N., From Civil Rights to Armalites: Derry and the Birth of the Irish Troubles,
(Cork, 1997).
Purdie, B, Politics