Nationalism in Northern Ireland from partition to the Belfast agreement : an academic perspective

Summary of a lecture presented by Seamus Mallon, and the revised text of a lecture presented by Éamon Phoenix as part of the seminar series “The path to peace: negotiating and implementing the Belfast agreement”, organised jointly by Co-Operation Ireland and the Institute for British-Irish Studies. The lec-tures were presented in UCD on 16 May 2002.A political perspective: This paper reflects on the challenges and difficult contexts which hindered the process of negotiation that resulted in the Good Friday agreement. Problems included past political experiences, the novelty of negotiation for many of the parties, acceptance of negotiating partners, and the chaotic and ad hoc nature of negotiation. The paper refers to some of the difficulties of implementation that followed the agreement, in particular tensions that have arisen over structural resistance to the establishment of the new Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. The paper concludes by highlighting the challenge that is facing all political parties on the island: the need to create a new political idealism.An academic perspective: This paper provides an historical introduction to nationalism in Northern Ireland, from partition to the Belfast agreement. The author traces the emergence of contemporary nationalism from the early days of Joseph Devlin through the trauma of the civil war, partition and the consolidation of unionist domination. The paper goes on to consider the changing role of nationalism during the 1960s and the emergence of the SDLP, and concludes by pointing to the growing threat to the SDLP that is posed by Sinn Féin.Not applicableti, ab - TS 09/07/1