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Sinn Féin and the SDLP : from alienation to participation / Gerald Murray, Jonathan Tonge.
Van Pelt Library JN1572.A98 S56 2005
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Murray, Gerard.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Sinn Fein--History.
- Sinn Fein.
- Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland)--History.
- Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland).
- Peace-building--Northern Ireland.
- Peace-building.
- Republicanism--Northern Ireland.
- Republicanism.
- Nationalism--Northern Ireland.
- Nationalism.
- History.
- Northern Ireland--Politics and government--1968-1998.
- Northern Ireland.
- Politics and government.
- Northern Ireland--Politics and government--1998-.
- Physical Description:
- xvii, 300 pages ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
- Summary:
- The peace process and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement fundamentally changed the political landscape in Northern Ireland. This book argues that political winners have become electoral losers in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein was obliged to give up a lot to support the Good Friday Agreement-a deal which recognizes Northern Ireland, kept it within the United Kingdom, and asked republicans to assist in the governance of a political entity they fought to destroy. In contrast, the Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) did not have to compromise much. Yet despite this, Sinn Fein has become politically dominant, as republicanism has overtaken nationalism as the majority preference of Catholics in Northern Ireland.
- Gerard Murray and Jonathan Tonge ask three key questions in their analysis of the parties' evolution: To what extent did either party shape the Good Friday Agreement? Did the Agreement affect the political outlook of either party? And how accurate is it to describe the SDLP as the political winner, but the electoral loser, in the intra-nationalist competition in Northern Ireland? Looking at the entire history of the two parties since 1970, Sinn Fein and the SDLP ultimately seeks to come to grips with the meaning of the recent ascent of Sinn Fein.
- Contents:
- 1 The Development of Nationalist Politics in Northern Ireland 1
- The National Democratic Party 7
- The birth of the SDLP 10
- Developments within Republicanism: the IRA Border Campaign, 1956-62 13
- Republican politics in the 1960s 16
- Republican split 20
- 2 Collapsing Stormont: Politics and Rebellion in the early 1970s 25
- Constitutional nationalism 25
- The Official and Provisional IRAs 29
- Provisional politics 33
- Provisional policy: Eire Nua 36
- The revival of 'armed struggle', 1970-2 39
- 3 The Sunningdale Experiment 43
- The attempt to create power-sharing 43
- SDLP ingredients and reaction 46
- The aftermath of Sunningdale 49
- The Constitutional Convention 51
- Political irritation: the debate on independence 54
- Internal ruptures and reeappraisal of SDLP strategy 58
- The exit of Gerry Fitt 62
- 4 Marginalisation, Exclusion and Rebirth: Republicanism, 1972-9 67
- Unreconstructed militarism? The Provisionals' offensive 67
- The Whitelaw talks 69
- Rejecting Sunningdale 73
- Ceasefire 74
- The descent into sectarianism: 'dealing' with Loyalists 77
- From criminalisation to reorganisation 80
- 5 Ending Political Inertia: Internationalisation of the Northern Ireland conflict 83
- Traditional Irish-American attitudes 83
- John Hume in America 85
- Hume and Irish government 90
- The SDLP and Europe 93
- Guns not government: Republicans and international solidarity 99
- 6 The Republican Second Front: Hunger Strikes and Ballot Boxes 101
- Legitimising a long war 101
- Developing Republicanism as a political force 104
- Shaping coalitions 106
- The election of Sands and Carron 110
- Impacts North and South 112
- The new electoralism of Sinn Fein 114
- 7 Rescuing the SDLP: the New Ireland Forum 118
- The rolling devolution cul-de-sac 118
- Developing nationalist consensus 121
- SDLP policy positions: the New Ireland Forum 124
- Sinn Fein: rejecting federalism and the Forum 127
- Margaret Thatcher's dismissal of the New Ireland Forum 132
- 8 The Anglo-Irish Agreement 136
- The importance of the SDLP analysis 138
- SDLP gains 141
- SDLP disappointments 144
- Sinn Fein's double-edged response 147
- The balance-sheet for nationalists 150
- 9 Republican Reappraisal: the Initiatives of Gerry Adams 153
- Electoral gains and plateaus 153
- Goodbye fundamnentalism, hello pragmatism: the end of abstentionism 156
- The 1986 Republican split 159
- The road to Hume-Adams 162
- SDLP-Sinn Fein dialogue 166
- The SDLP and Unionists 170
- 10 Towards Peace, Pan-Nationalism and Co-Determination 175
- The Brooke talks: creating a basis for change 175
- Self-determination, co-determination and persuasion 178
- The 1993 Downing Street Declaration 183
- Republican reaction to the Downing Street Declaration 184
- Ceasefire 187
- The US conundrum 190
- Temporary fracture 192
- 11 The Good Friday Agreement: SDLP Triumph? 196
- The contents of the Agreement 196
- An SDLP analysis of the Agreement 200
- The SDLP membership 203
- Nationalists and policing 205
- The impact of the Agreement: electoral problems? 208
- 12 Triumph or Sell-Out? Sinn Fein and Constitutional Republicanism 213
- Republican politics and the Good Friday Agreement? 213
- Conflict resolution measures 215
- Selling the Agreement: the maintenance of Republican unity 217
- Keeping the flame burning 219
- Decommissioning physical force Republicanism 223
- Sinn Fein overtakes the SDLP 227
- The electoral squeezing of the SDLP: irreversible gains for Sinn Fein? 230
- Progress or sell-out? Theorising Republican change 233
- 13 New Agendas? Nationalist Social and Economic Policies 240
- Developing other political agendas 240
- A radical approach to education policy 241
- Local government 243
- Health and housing 244
- Employment and the economy 246
- The European agenda 248
- Moral agendas 250
- Whither the SDLP? 256
- Selling a 'partitionist' settlement 260
- Post-Republicanism? 263
- Post-nationalism? 266
- 11.1 Identification of the SDLP by party members 203
- 11.2 Constitutional preferences of SDLP members 204
- 11.3 SDLP-Sinn Fein electoral competition, 1982-2003 209.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-295) and index.
- ISBN:
- 1403968608
- OCLC:
- 57575622
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