Northern Ireland

What Peace in Northern Ireland Looks Like at 25

Both Brexit and the recent revelation that Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland introduce new tensions into the peace agreements reached in 1998. 

United Ireland "Closer Now than it's Ever Been"

Both demographic change in the North and shifts in United Kingdom politics have made Irish reunification a reasonable possibility to discuss. 

Smuggled Recordings Revealed the Harshness of British Internment Policies in Northern Ireland

by Jack Sheehan

Tapes secretly recorded in the Long Kesh internment facility, where suspected IRA militants were detained without trial, revealed the degree to which the British government discarded human rights in its crackdown and speak to today's "states of exception."

Hunger Strikes are Powerful Stands Against Injustice

by Nayan Shah

The hunger strike is a potent tool of resistance when the balance of formal power is highly unequal. 

At 50th Anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" Peace Feels Less Certain

by Mark Holan

A hometown headline 50 years ago introduced the author to the Troubles in Northern Ireland; at the anniversary of Derry's "Bloody Sunday" a hard-won peace feels precarious. 

How the Black Country Star Charley Pride Became an Unlikely Hero in Northern Ireland's Troubles

by Walker Mimms

Pride's "Crystal Chandeliers" didn't chart when he released in in the US in 1967; a decade later it was a unity anthem for Northern Ireland residents hoping for peace. 

Can an Official Government Account of Northern Ireland's Troubles be Credible?

"What is needed is not “official” history, but a decision to properly open sensitive archival material to facilitate the writing of evidence-based history. The political will to facilitate that is highly unlikely to materialise."

American Conference for Irish Studies Connects the Past, Future of Irish-American Relations

by Mark Holan

The recent virtual American Conference for Irish Studies meeting convened scholars and diplomats to discuss challenges posed by Brexit and opportunities for cooperation between the United States, Northern Ireland, and the Republic. 

Why the Hope for Peace is Waning in Northern Ireland

by James Waller

"The Troubles, the decades-long Catholic uprising against British rule starting in the 1960s, began with Catholic frustration over a government that would not leave. If widespread violence returns, it will be because of Protestant frustration over a government that would not stay."

Belfast's Troubles Echo in Today's Washington

by Niall Stanage

The Hill's correspondent argues that the pattern of inciting violence and denying responsibility on display in Washington on January 6 has a grim resemblance to the work of demagogue Ian Paisley during the Northern Ireland Troubles. 

Mourning Two Civil Rights Heroes Across the Atlantic

by Donald M. Beaudette and Laura Weinstein

As we remember John Hume and John Lewis, we should find inspiration to continue their struggle.

Historians Pay Tribute: ‘Today We Live In John Hume’s Ireland, And Thank God For That’

‘His extraordinary impact reflects the exceptional political leader and person he was.’

John Hume, Nobel Laureate for Work in Northern Ireland, Dies at 83

"In the parlance of Northern Ireland, Mr. Hume was a “nationalist” whose dream of a reunited Ireland had no place for the violence embraced by “republicans” like the I.R.A., with its armed fighters and networks of financiers, bomb-makers and sympathizers in the region and in the United States."

The Slow Path to Police Reform in Northern Ireland

by Donald M. Beaudette and Laura Weinstein

It took deep reforms and patience to build trust in policing across the sectarian divide of Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Accords. Does that process have lessons for the United States? 

What the U.S. Can Learn from the History of Northern Ireland

by Andrew Sanders

British soldiers deployed to Northern Ireland in 1969 in an operation intended to be a temporary action to quell sectarian violence and inflammatory mob and police attacks on Catholic civil rights advocates. They remained until 2007, a lesson that American politicians should heed. 

Covering the Troubles in Northern Ireland

by Ron Steinman

I covered the Troubles in Northern Ireland for NBC News for four years, from the summer of 1969 until 1973. Even as a journalist with significant experience covering conflict, I knew I was in for a new ride.

50 Years Later, Troubles Still Cast ‘Huge Shadow’ Over Northern Ireland

Decades later, the Troubles “are so burned into our lives that they are part of our DNA,” said Monica McWilliams, a former civil rights marcher, peace activist and feminist leader.

This St. Patrick’s Day Let’s Remember Northern Ireland, too

by Steven Knipp

Most Americans come from Northern Ireland including Ulysses Grant and Stonewall Jackson.

Irish government no comment as historian queries relationship with the IRA

Lord Paul Bew suggested that Dublin conduct its own investigation into its relationship with the IRA.

Confidential files give insight into Margaret Thatcher's view of Northern Ireland

Previously confidential files from 1983 released on Thursday by the National Archives in Kew shed new light on the ongoing attempts by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to deal with the political and security situations in Northern Ireland and, in particular, the threat by Sinn Féin to overtake the SDLP as the voice of Northern nationalism.Sinn Féin's record 13.4% of the regional vote in the June 1983 election and the return of its President, Gerry Adams, as MP for West Belfast came as a shattering blow to Mrs Thatcher, who had returned to power with a renewed mandate after the Falklands war.Ministers believed that up to a quarter of the Sinn Féin vote was down to impersonation and intimidation.At a cabinet meeting in June that year, Northern Ireland Secretary Jim Prior warned colleagues that the republicans' success could lead to the destruction of John Hume's SDLP....