British & Irish history

Sunningdale, the Ulster Workers' Council strike and the struggle for democracy in Northern Ireland

Edited by David McCann, Cillian McGrattan

Description

The 'Sunningdale experiment' of 1973-4 witnessed the first attempt to establish peace in Northern Ireland through power-sharing. However, its provisions, particularly the cross-border 'Council of Ireland', proved to be a step too far. The experiment floundered amid ongoing paramilitary-led violence, finally collapsing in May 1974 as a result of the Ulster Workers' Council strike. Drawing on new scholarship from some of the top political historians working on the period, this book presents a series of reflections on how key protagonists struggled with notions of power-sharing and the 'Irish dimension', and how those struggles inhibited a deepening of democracy and the ending of violence for so long.

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Author Biography

David McCann is Lecturer in Politics at Ulster University. Cillian McGrattan is Lecturer in Politics at the University of the West of Scotland and Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College, Dublin.

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date February 2017
  • Orginal LanguageEnglish
  • ISBN/Identifier 9780719099519 / 071909951X
  • Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
  • FormatHardback
  • Primary Price 75 GBP
  • Pages224
  • ReadershipCollege/Tertiary Education
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Dimensions234 x 156 mm
  • Biblio NotesPart I: Introduction and overview of the Sunningdale Agreement 1. Introduction: David McCann and Cillian McGrattan 2. The Ulster Workers' Council strike: the perfect storm - Gordon Gillespie 3. Understanding aspiration, anxiety, assumption and ambiguity: the anatomy of Sunningdale - Arthur Aughey Part II: The lessons of Sunningdale: the key protagonists 4. Sunningdale and the Irish dimension: a step too far? - John Coakley 5. British government policy post 1974: learning slowly between Sunningdales? - Eamonn O'Kane 6. British security policy and the Sunningdale Agreement: the consequences of using force to combat terrorism in a liberal democracy - Aaron Edwards 7. Sunningdale and the limits of 'rejectionist' unionism - Stuart Aveyard and Shaun McDaid 8. Stan Orme and the road to 'industrial democracy': British attempts at the politicisation of working class Protestants in Northern Ireland, 1973-5 - Tony Craig 9. Power-sharing and the Irish dimension: the conundrum for the SDLP in Northern Ireland - Sarah Campbell 10. '1974 - Year of Liberty'? The Provisional IRA and Sunningdale - Henry Patterson Part III: The legacies of Sunningdale 11. Cultural responses to and the legacies of Sunningdale - Connal Parr 12. 'Slow learners'? Comparing the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement - Thomas Hennessey Appendix: The Sunningdale Agreement Index

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