Peter McLoughlin

The SDLP and the Europeanization of the Northern Ireland Problem

Abstract This article explores the various ways in which the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) has used Europe – as a source of financial aid, political support, ideas and inspiration – in its attempts to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict. In this, the piece considers the SDLP, not as a subject, but rather as an advocate of the Europeanization of the Northern Ireland problem. In particular, it looks at the role of John Hume, a founding member and later leader of the SDLP, who inculcated a strongly pro‐European outlook within the party. In doing so, the article considers the success of Hume and the SDLP in their efforts to bring a European influence to bear on Northern Ireland, especially in relation to the peace process and the 1998 Agreement. However, it also looks at both the limitations of this influence, and the problems involved with the SDLPs pro‐European approach, particularly since Humes departure as party leader in 2001. In conclusion, the article suggests that the party may have been ‘over‐Europeanized’, with its long‐term focus on European issues and ideas now becoming electorally disadvantageous. In this way, the Europeanization of the Northern Ireland problem, and by extension the SDLP, has proven costly to the party.

“…it’s a United Ireland or Nothing”? John Hume and the Idea of Irish Unity, 1964-72

Abstract This article explores John Hume’s thinking on Irish unity from the point of his first public commentary on the issue, a two‐part article written for The Irish Times in May 1964, through to the infamous statement he made in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday killings in January 1972. In doing so it attempts to put in their proper context the words for which Hume he is most well remembered, particularly by the Protestant community and unionist commentators. The article shows that, at the outset of his political career, Hume’s position on Irish unity was aspirational rather than imperative. However, it demonstrates how political developments in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s and early 1970s – chiefly the increasing repression and radicalisation of the Catholic community, and the revival of the republican movement in that context – impacted on Hume’s articulation of his ideas regarding Irish reunification, such that this end came to be seen, quite wrongly, as his sole political ambition. The article concludes by suggesting that Hume’s original position on Irish unity was vindicated by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

Celtic Nationalism and Supranationalism: Comparing Scottish and Northern Ireland Party Responses to Europe

This article explores how stateless nationalist parties in the ‘Celtic periphery’ of Scotland and Northern Ireland have used Europe to advance their territorial projects. Despite vastly different historical, political and social contexts, the Scottish National Party and Northern Irelands Social Democratic and Labour Party have both advanced a pro-European, social democratic discourse that emphasises the importance of Europe as a framework for constitutional reform and shared sovereignty. However, in recent years the parties have diverged on Europe. While the SDLP has continued its principled commitment to further integration, the SNP has articulated an increased criticism of the supranational project. This divergence in party attitudes reveals the extent to which the pro-European dimension of Celtic nationalism is ideological or opportunistic.

‘Whatever You Say, Say Nothing’: The Issue of ‘Macro-Context’ in the Construction of a Catalogue and Archive of Qualitative Material on the Northern Ireland Conflict

This article looks at the issue of context in relation to the construction of a catalogue and archive of qualitative material relating to the Northern Ireland conflict. Specifically if looks at “macro-context”, that is the broad socio-political environment in which qualitative data is gathered. In the case of Northern Ireland, macro-context mainly concerns the conflict and the deeply divided society which it has left behind. The article explores the problems we had in “capturing” this context in order to provide for informed secondary analysis of the datasets logged in our catalogue. It looks at solutions arrived at, and also the limits to which we could capture the context of the materials we catalogued, before suggesting how our experience might provide some guidance to others seeking to facilitate secondary use of qualitative data.

The first major step in the peace process’? Exploring the impact of the Anglo-Irish Agreement on Irish republican thinking

Abstract This article supports interpretations of the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 as a significant factor contributing to the development of the Northern Ireland peace process. However, it also emphasises a certain serendipity in the Agreements effect on northern nationalist, and more specifically republican, politics in the region. In particular, it stresses that a specific interpretation of the Agreement promoted by the Social Democratic and Labour Party inspired a dialogue with republicanism, encouraging an ongoing reappraisal within the latter about the nature of Britains role in Northern Ireland. This, the article argues, reinforced the movement towards a more political approach that republicans had begun in the 1980s, and encouraged their eventual embrace of a constitutional strategy in the 1990s. However, in advancing this argument, the article notes that such an outcome was far from the minds of the British and Irish officials who negotiated the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The Agreement was intended to marginalise rather than accommodate republicans. Despite this, it provided an inadvertent incentive to draw militant republicanism into the democratic process in Northern Ireland.

ARK (Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive): The Northern Ireland Qualitative Catalogue and Archive on the Conflict

Abstract This short article continues the series introducing those interested in the study of politics to the various sources of data available in Ireland. Here we look at ARK (Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive), and in particular the most recent addition to its range of online resources, the Northern Ireland Qualitative Catalogue and Archive on the Conflict.