Product Description

This book provides a comprehensive and original interpretation of the Northern Ireland conflict. It situates the conflict firmly in its Irish, British and wider international contexts, showing how the sharp conflicts of interest are generated by deep-set structures and relations within Britain and Ireland. The authors argue that only a systematic and determined policy on the part of the British and Irish governments to dismantle the system of relations that produces conflict can fulfill the potential of the peace process and allow an agreed political settlement to emerge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #584277 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
"The bulk of their book is an exhaustive analysis of the causes of the present conflict, and it is full of insights; they draw as well on the intimidating body of literature the conflict has spawned." Washington Times

"The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland is essential reading for those seeking to understand both the specific problems of Northern Ireland and the general character of interethnic conflict. The footnotes and bibliography alone are an invaluable guide to contemporary approaches. The authors, from contrasting backgrounds, provide a lucid, up-to-date and well-informed analysis of the historical, political, economic and cultural dimensions of the problem. They discuss the European and American connection as well as the more immediate British and Irish context. Their suggestions for an 'emancipatory approach' may well indicate the most practicable strategy for a possible solution. All in all, this book is an invaluable and illuminating analysis of an extraordinarily intricate and intractable problem." Professor Hugh Kearney, University of Pittsburgh

Customer Reviews

Communal Conflict in Northern Ireland, Explained
Northern Ireland is well known for the enduring conflict there over its constitutional arrangements within the United Kingdom. To follow the line taken by the American press, however, it is a religious war in which Catholics and Protestants commit atrocities in their struggle for power.

The Dynamics of Conflict, by renowned scholarly duo Ruane and Todd, is an excellent corrective to this common misconception. The book takes readers through the conflict step-by-step, explaining how the changing relationships between nationalists and unionists, Irish and British, natives and settlers Catholics and Protestants, have evolved over the centuries. Despite the evolution of those relationships, what is still more remarkable is the enduring constancy. Overlapping badges of identity have created two strong and self-conscious communities in a very small region where communal politics have subsumed most internal class, gender, and philosophic divisions.

Ruane and Todd show how the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland since the 1960s can be seen as the most recent manifestation of an enduring rivalry restructured from an all-Ireland basis into a Northern Ireland-only basis by the constitutional 'settlement' of the early 1920s which divided the island into the nationalist 26-County 'Free State' (now Republic of Ireland) and the unionist 6-County Northern Ireland.

The text predates the Good Friday Agreement, but diputes over the implementation of that settlement are a testament to its quality of scholarship.

This work must be seen along with the works of John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary, Paul Bew, and Arthur Miller as essential for a good understanding of the nature of the Northern Ireland conflict.

An excellent book
A sound academic, historical and theoretical treatment of the Northern Ireland conflict, with insights that are highly relevant for scholars of the Palestine conflict as well. A real pleasure to read. I recommend it highly.

The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland : Power, Conflict and Emancipation
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