Skip to Main Content

Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789-2006

Online ISBN:
9780191701832
Print ISBN:
9780199561261
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789-2006

Paul Bew
Paul Bew
Professor of Irish Politics, Queen's University, Belfast
Find on
Published online:
3 October 2011
Published in print:
12 February 2009
Online ISBN:
9780191701832
Print ISBN:
9780199561261
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book is an innovative interpretation of the history of Anglo–Irish relations from 1789 right to the present day. The French Revolution had an electrifying impact on Irish society, with the 1790s seeing the birth of modern Irish republicanism and Orangeism. This decade also saw the political integration between Ireland and the British elite, such as with Pitt and Castlereagh. The Irish, who were strongly influenced by Edmund Burke's freedom philosophies, argued that Britain's strategic interests were best served by a policy of Catholic emancipation. Britain's failure to achieve this objective — dramatised by the horrifying and tragic Irish famine of 1846–50 — set the context for the emergence of a popular mass nationalism. Eventually, the Fenian, Parnell, and Sinn Fein movements expelled the British from most of the island. This book reassesses all the key leaders of Irish nationalism, alongside key British political leaders — from Tone, Parnell and de Valera, to Haughey, Peel and Blair. It evaluates the changing ideological passions of the modern Irish question, while examining the changing economical and social worlds in London, Dublin and Belfast, all in one coherent analysis.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close