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Without overplaying the convergences in the discriminatory and oppressive practices carried out during the twentieth century by the states of South Africa (1948–1994) and Northern Ireland (1921–1998), it is difficult not to see prisons as one of the spaces where the power of the state was hotly contested. Physically isolated either by the countryside or by the ocean, the notorious prisons of Long Kesh/H Blocks and Robben Island housed vast numbers of political prisoners whose resolve and resistance the prison and state regimes attempted to break, deploying a variety of brutal strategies to do so. These violent infringements on prisoners' human rights also occurred in prisons situated in more central areas, but regardless of the physical situation of the prison, its inhabitants were (and of course still are today) rendered invisible and inaudible. This essay will focus on prose and poetry produced by political prisoners during incarceration and, in some cases, after their release. I would like to explore how the various aesthetics developed by both well-known and anonymous writers participate in a very political reconfiguration of both the carceral space and the wider biopolitics of the state. I suggest it is in the very stylistics of the texts that their implicit political message can be deciphered, and the prisoners' agency asserted. Paradoxically, then, in spite of attempts to push the prisoners out of sight, their resistance becomes all the more visible and audible, and forces a redistribution of the sensible through dissensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of the Protestant minority in Ireland during the years of the Irish revolution has been the subject of much academic and popular debate in recent years. At issue is the extent to which the decline by one-third of the Protestant population of the Irish Free State between 1911 and 1926 was a result either of intimidation, sectarianism or ethnic cleansing during the revolution itself, or of more mundane factors such as long-term patterns of migration and low marriage and birth rates. Drawing upon digitised census returns and the rich detail contained in the records of the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches in County Longford, this article will show that the causes of depopulation are better understood when precise chronological, local, denominational and gender perspectives are brought to bear. It will argue for greater engagement with sociological literature to define more effectively the meaning of sectarianism in revolutionary Ireland. It will also invert the principal question of why the Protestants left and seek to explain why those who remained chose to do so. County Longford is chosen as a suitable case-study because it was affected by both long-term socio-economic factors and revolutionary violence, and the three Protestant denominations in the county have extensive archives which help to fill the gap in civil data occasioned by the absence of a census of population for fifteen years between 1911 and 1926. The article identifies dynamics present in Longford that can be explored in other regional contexts to achieve a wider national understanding of this demographic shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines protests by "ordinary" prisoners in the Republic of Ireland, which began in the 1970s. Whereas "political" prisoners have attracted significant academic and popular attention, little historical research exists about organizations that represented "ordinary" prisoners, such as the Prisoners Union. Yet "ordinary" prisoners demonstrated that they too had the capacity to organize. Though their protests took similar forms, the state adopted a markedly different approach when dealing with the two groups of prisoners. Despite appalling prison conditions, governments rejected the Prisoners Union's claim to represent "ordinary" prisoners and resisted its demands for penal reform. In contrast, after more prolonged protests, and despite assertions that the paramilitary organizations to which "political" prisoners belonged posed an existential threat to the state, the government neutralized their protests by accepting their representation, improving their conditions, and effectively recognizing them as a special category of prisoner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of the First World War on female unionism and orangeism. The period of political crisis in Ireland that preceded the war mobilised unprecedented numbers of women into political and quasi-political associations. Determined that Ireland would remain under the Act of Union, members of the Ulster Women's Unionist Council and Association of Loyal Orangewomen embraced rather than challenged gender difference. The unionist campaign of resistance to home rule was suspended on the outbreak of the First World War, but the uncertainty of the post-war situation, the Easter Rising of 1916, the partition of Ireland, and ill-fated Irish Convention and partial female enfranchisement, ensured that the unionist truce was often a façade. The transformative role of the First World War is often highlighted, but this examination suggests the gender constraints experienced in the early twentieth century survived the conflict and continued to define women's role in unionism and orangeism for decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on labour and parliamentary politics in the early Free State of Ireland. Topics discussed include the historical analysis of the Irish Labour Party’s parliamentary launch; the party’s participation in the post-revolutionary Irish general election of 1922; and the abstention of anti-Treatyites that provided greater legitimacy to the parliament.

This article-adapted from the author's forthcoming book, Sunningdale: the search for peace in Northern Ireland-describes how government policy was formed during 1972, the most violent year of the Troubles. As told from the perspective of a former political adviser in the Department of Foreign Affairs, policy was not always set from the top but was often developed in a creative interaction between those who drafted speeches and articles and political leaders. In the tense atmosphere of 1972, views among department officials and advisers as to which path a government should take often differed. Meanwhile, Ted Heath's government was preparing a Green Paper which, when published, reflected ideas about power- sharing institutions in Northern Ireland and an 'Irish Dimension' which the Irish government had been arguing for. Though Sunningdale did not succeed, this new approach, a turning point in British policy, remained relevant to all subsequent cooperation in working towards a political settlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the treatment and rehabilitation of disabled Irish Great War veterans who lived in the Irish Free State. To do so, it utilises the records of the Ministry of Pensions, the British governmental department, that was charged with assisting these men. This research argues that the Irish Free State was a particularly challenging society for disabled ex-servicemen to reside. Yet, whilst the social and governmental reception on offer to disabled Great War veterans was less favourable in the Free State than their similarly afflicted former comrades in Britain, they were better able to benefit from substantial assistance from the Ministry of Pensions. The department lived up to its billing as an “imperial obligation” in the newly formed state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Irish taoiseach (prime minister) Charles J. Haughey’s involvement with the Falklands War of 1982; a hitherto neglected subject related to a defining episode in the history of Great Britain in the post-war era. Specifically, it focuses on Haughey’s relationship with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher during the depths of this crisis and the immediate diplomatic and political fallout between the British and Irish governments in the aftermath of the Falklands War. At the heart of this article is the argument that Haughey’s modus operandi during the Falkland War was motivated by a blend of political opportunism and cynical anglophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the manner in which the boundaries between state and family were negotiated in the course of parliamentary debates on school attendance legislation in the Irish Free State. Of particular interest are the representations of children and parents which informed competing ideas about the extent and limitations of state power over families. Representations of ordinary parents as ignorant and “careless” legitimized an authoritarian approach to the regulation of school attendance, albeit one in which compulsion was balanced with a degree of compassion and parents with the wherewithal to exercise choice were granted a high degree of autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kilmainham Gaol (1796-1924) became the de facto holding center for political prisoners in Ireland by the mid-nineteenth century. Officially closing in 1910, it reopened a number of times for 'emergencies' before its final closure after the Irish Civil War (1922-23). After 1924 it lay abandoned until reopening as a heritage attraction in the early 1960s. It was taken into state protection in 1986. Using a range of graffiti assemblages predominantly dating from 1910 onwards this paper will explore the 'imperial debris' of contested narratives of meaning, ownership, and identity that the prison walls continue to materialize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the conflict in Ireland from 1913-1923, and mentions topics including political leader Daniel O'Connell who have distinguished different political agitators in the country, the struggle for the Home Rule bill, and the crisis organised by militia Edward Caron.

An essay is presented on the Anglo-Irish summit meeting between Irish Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher held in Dublin, Ireland on December 8, 1980. It examines the observations of journalists Stephen Collins and Eamonn O'Kane on the significance of the meeting on the Anglo-Irish relations. It also explores how Haughey and Thatcher viewed the conflict in Northern Ireland during their respective tenures.

The article focuses on Irish poet Padraic Colum and his efforts in promoting the cause of Irish independence in the U.S. and the vision of an Irish nationalist movement led by intellectuals like him. Topics include Colum's belief on the importance contributions of intellectuals to Ireland's nationalist cause, his creation of an Irish theatre in the U.S. that highlighted the romantic and heroic life of Ireland, and the essays he wrote that provided a clear account of the Easter Rising.

The negotiations that led to the formation of the Irish Free State in 1921 form the focus of this article. A longstanding interpretation of these negotiations has the British finessing the Irish by playing on the weaknesses of character of the Irish delegation. This interpretation is both flawed and influential. On one level, the article questions its historical accuracy and proposes an alternative. On another level, the article seeks to account for its enduring importance. This interpretation plays a role in a larger narrative of Anglo-Irish relations that is rooted in British colonialism and Irish nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay draws on parliamentary debates and official reports to trace the changing conceptions of the child in need of protection which shaped Irish legislative developments at key points of reform. There have been significant shifts in constructions of childhood and children's needs in Irish political discourse over the course of the twentieth century. Nonetheless it is argued that a certain degree of continuity over time is apparent in representations of the child in need of protection. Whether viewed through the lens of morality/spirituality, psychology, or more recently children's rights, within twentieth-century Irish parliamentary discourse, the "problem" of the child in need of protection has for the most part been construed in somewhat narrow terms, impeding examination of the intersection between generational inequalities and those related to social divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 21 January 1919, the first Dáil adopted four constitutional documents, the best known of which is the Democratic Programme, a statement of social values, based on proposals from the Labour Party. The Programme is usually regarded as a cynical reward to Labour for its abstention from the 1918 general election, and nationalist elites have frequently been criticised for reneging on it. This paper will argue that the Programme was written to advance the Irish cause at the International Socialist Conference at Berne in February 1919, that parts of the Programme were implemented, and that it is very likely that the Labour Party did not write it to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Irish Polish Society Yearbook is the property of Irish Polish Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The process of constituency boundary revision in Ireland, designed to satisfy what is perceived as a rigid requirement that a uniform deputy-population ratio be maintained across constituencies, has traditionally consumed a great deal of the time of politicians and officials. For almost two decades after a High Court ruling in 1961, the process was a political one, was highly contentious, and was marked by serious allegations of ministerial gerrymandering. The introduction in 1979 of constituency commissions made up of officials neutralised, for the most part, charges that the system had become too politicised, but it continued the process of micro-management of constituency boundaries. This article suggests that the continuing problems caused by this system – notably, the permanently changing nature of constituency boundaries and resulting difficulties of geographical identification – could be resolved by reversion to the procedure that is normal in proportional representation systems: periodic post-census allocation of seats to constituencies whose boundaries are based on those of recognised local government units and which are stable over time. This reform, replacing the principle of redistricting by the principle of reapportionment, would result in more recognisable constituencies, more predictable boundary trajectories over time, and a more efficient, fairer, and speedier process of revision. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay is presented on the contribution of Irish writer, poet and soldier Irish Tom Kettle in Irish politics during World War I. Topics include Kettle's political career as a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, the biography "The Enigma of Tom Kettle" on Kettle by Dr John B Lyons, and his selection as president of the Young Ireland movement branch of the political party United Irish League.

Copyright of Irish Polish Society Yearbook is the property of Irish Polish Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Scholars from diverse ideological backgrounds have up to now addressed Robert Briscoe's relationship with Eamon De Valera superficially. Dermot Keogh, in Jews in twentieth-century Ireland, depicted it as almost paternalistic, while Shulamit Eliash, in The harp and the shield of David, took a simplistic approach, which essentially depicted de Valera as a weak, self-serving politician who was verging on anti-Semitism in his reactions toward Briscoe and the Jewish community. Research on which the present paper is based, however, indicates that both the political and personal relationship between the two men was complex and multi-faceted, and it was characterised by many nuanced phases. Examination of rarely used and hard-to-access archives in Ireland, Great Britain and Israel has revealed that when the potential partition of Palestine arose in 1937 and de Valera saw the opportunity to highlight in the international sphere the existing partition of Ireland, the issue bound de Valera to Briscoe in a unique way. De Valera saw Briscoe's involvement with the New Zionist Organisation as a perfect opportunity to highlight his opposition to partition in every manifestation. Briscoe supported de Valera's position without reservation, and was rewarded when de Valera facilitated his Zionist engagement, even when it became clear that it was politically disadvantageous to do so. The two men clearly enjoyed a relationship that went far beyond the boundaries of political leader and subordinate. This article will reveal some of the many strands of that relationship, which differentiate it from most of de Valera's Fianna Fail commitments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the formation of a women's patrol force in Ireland in 1914, the Irish Women Patrol (IWP), focusing on the role these patrols played in Irish society during and after World War I. Other topics include the support of the IWP by Irish feminist and social reform groups, the social and political circumstances in Ireland that led to the formation of the IWP, and how the IWP was able to outlast its British counterparts by balancing social purity causes and feminist ideas.

A decade of transformation that emerged following a period of inertia and insularity in Irish education, the 1960s is widely regarded by scholars as representing a paradigm shift in education policy. Marked by a more interventionist, strategic policy approach, this period resulted in significant democratisation of education, particularly at post-primary level. Based on an analysis of key primary sources, many of which are here examined for the first time, this article argues that this step change in policy, the impact of which should not be underestimated, would not have been possible without the deep-seated commitment of a number of politicians and policy advisers committed to the democratisation of post-primary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of anti-communism in Ireland. The author reflects on the role of the Catholic church and the Cold War in stoking public fears about communism. Topics discussed include the influence of Soviet persecution of Catholics, the role of anti-modernism in Irish clericalism, and the impact of secularism and the conflict in Northern Ireland.

An essay is presented about the role of policemen and journalists in the 19th century focusing on their references as seekers of the truth and the relationship between police officers and journalists. It talks about rules under which policemen and journalists operate. The socioeconomic backgrounds of policemen and journalists are discussed along with the progression of both these careers in the 20th century in Ireland. The author also talks about Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

An essay is presented on emigration in Ireland in the twenty-first century. It says that the high rate of unemployment is the driving factor of emigration in the country since 1987. It mentions that Ireland remains to be e suffering from immature political system, which is a lasting Catholic conservatism that continue to embarrass Irish in their country and abroad. It adds the incapability of the Irish politics to address the crisis on emigration.

The article discusses the social reform agenda and social policies of the National Coalition government of the Fine Gael and Labour political parties in Ireland from 1973 to 1977. It examines a fourteen-point programme outlined by the coalition, which encompassed housing policy, education policy, and taxation policy. The author particularly comments on the introduction of a wealth tax in 1975 and efforts to end discrimination against women and provide for the sale of contraception. Politicians discussed include Liam Cosgrave and Declan Costello.

Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, the most important fascist party to arise in Ireland, reached its electoral peak in 1945 when it won nine seats in the local government elections of that year. Much of its success was due to the unusually high level of support it gained from women, who made up a greater proportion of its membership than did their counterparts in the mainstream parties or in fascist movements overseas. Though the party's policies were often surprisingly accommodating of women's participation in public life, Aiséirghe's true distinctiveness lay in its assertion of the compatibility of totalitarian politics and Christian social principles. This ideological syncretism – giving a literal interpretation to the expression ‘political religion’ – proved especially attractive to those young Irishwomen who were disturbed by what they perceived as the indifference of liberal-democratic political and economic systems to women's material and spiritual interests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article investigates anticommunism in Ireland during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It focuses in particular on the campaigns waged by the right-wing Catholic organisations, Maria Duce and the Catholic Cinema and Theatre Patrons’ Association, opposing the influence of American cinema, which it was alleged was dominated by Communists. The central argument is that Ireland's ‘red scare’ was an ephemeral phenomenon, fuelled by American anticommunism, which was then at its height, and the cultural Cold War in Europe. Combined with these broader fears it reveal how anticommunism was shaped by domestic political and cultural contexts, especially concerns about the impact of external influences on Irish minds, in the omnipresent form of American cinema. Hollywood films offered visions of modernity that undermined traditional Irish nationalist values of simple living, an innate distaste of materialism, and an unflinching moral code, informed by Catholic teachings. In independent Ireland, far from the front line of confrontation with the red menace, the ideological dimensions made themselves felt, but were not perceived to be a sufficient threat as to dominate public life, as was the case in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the political activities of Irish professor, public intellectual, and politician Michael Tierney. It examines his conservatism, commenting on his views on democracy, the use of the English language in Ireland, and censorship. The author explores Tierney's involvement in the Cumann na nGaedheal and Fine Gael political parties. Tierney's views on fascist corporatism, also called vocationalism, are also assessed. Other topics include Tierney's republicanism, his Catholicism, and his relations with Irish president Éamon de Valera.

As many unused sources in the Service Historique de la Defense in Vincennes and the Quai d'Orsay in Paris reveal the French Deuxieme Bureau, and also naval intelligence, monitored events during the home rule crisis, the Easter Rising, the First World War, the Peace Conference in Paris and the Civil War. Also worthy of note are the elaboration of Franco-Irish invasion plans during the Boer War and the secret mission of an Irish general in Paris shortly after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. The aims of this article will be to give an overview of French military intelligence activities regarding Ireland and to give an assessment of its interest in the country during the period under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores connections between political leaders W. T. Cosgrave, Kevin O'Higgins and the Irish revolutionary movement leading up to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The author reflects on the support of Higgins and Cosgrave for the Treaty and accusations against them as being counterrevolutionary, imperialistic, and conservative. Emphasis is given to the participation of Higgins and Cosgrave in nationalistic and revolutionary organizations such as Sinn Féin. Other topics include the negotiation strategy with Great Britain, relations with legislator Éamon de Valera, and debates in the Irish Dáil or legislative assembly.

Four main explanations have been offered to account for the absence of a major agrarian party in post-independence Ireland and for the minor status and transience of those agrarian parties that did appear. For contextual reasons associated with nationalism and modernity, two of these suggest that there was no real need for a major agrarian party to begin with. Two other explanations point to the inability of the three main agrarian parties that did emerge to transcend the class divisions that prevented farmers becoming a coherent political class, and to counter the inadequacies that left them organisationally and tactically disadvantaged vis-a-vis their political rivals. The author's reading emphasises how the difficulties generated by class and political divisions were mutually reinforcing and how these difficulties in turn impacted on organisational and tactical prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines trends in historiography concerning Irish nationalist movements. The work of historian Brendan Bradshaw is discussed, including his ideas on public history and its role in the formation of national identity. The author argues that public history can be unreliable when historians become more concerned with their work's reception than with its authenticity. This conception of public history is applied to interpretations of the lives and careers of two Irish nationalist leaders, Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins. The role of public history in simplifying complex historical narratives about the foundation of the Irish state is also discussed. The author argues that public history has unduly influenced academic history.

Presents literary criticism of the diaries of Irish writer Rosamond Jacob. The works are examined in light of interest in the history of women in Ireland and 20th-century women writers, as well as diary scholarship, political and social conditions in Ireland in the 20th century, and women's life writing on the 19th and 20th centuries. The author discusses Irish nationalism, feminism, opposition to British imperialism, and Catholicism and Protestantism as represented in the diaries.

This essay explores the extent to which some of the political upheavals of twentieth-century Ireland, and their related theatrical manifestations, might reveal a series of affinities with the organized political radicalism of nineteenth-century England. Specifically, the playhouse of dramas written by the executed leader of the Easter Rising of 1916, Pádraic Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Patrick) point back to the earlier Liberal reform meetings that took place in the English midlands. The key connecting figure is the revolutionary leader’s father, James Pearse, who spent his life netween Birmingham and Dublin, but who has tended to be overlooked by historians in the years since 1916. This paper will explore the way that throughout the twentieth-century a focus on Pádraic Pearse’s mother has tended to obscure the influence of James Pearse. Yet I suggest that James–influenced by Liberal thinkers such as the MP John Bright–helpedto link on kind of waning English radicalism with the developing nationalism of twentieth-century Ireland. It is in this context that my paper explores the political implications of Patrick Pearse’s theatrical writings, The Kings, The Master and The Singer, tracing connections between these plays and the Birmingham radicalism of James Pearse, with a particular focus on James’s nonconformist reformism and day-to-day involvement with the Catholic pomp of the Hardman church-furnishing company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination of the political attitudes held by Irish politician John Redmond. It discusses Redmond's support of England as well as his Irish loyalism and attempts to determine how these seemingly contradictory attitudes were developed and defended by Redmond himself. The article discusses the development of Catholic loyalism in Great Britain and how Redmond's ancestors fought under the Union Jack flag. It explores how the outbreak of World War I brought Redmond's political attitudes to a head and discusses how he expressed his views on Irish nationalism.

This article argues that while the prostitution policies of the Irish state have changed over a long time from an unambiguous prohibitionism towards a partial abolitionism, overall policy is characterised by inconsistency and contradictions and legal changes have occurred outside of a comprehensive policy review. As Ireland is integrated into a globalised sex industry, with a consequent restructuring of the vice trade, prostitution itself may remain largely beyond the reach of the state, or, policy resistant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the religious aspects of political reform in the careers of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. The author reflects on notions of a modern Christian society and efforts to relax laws on birth control, divorce, abortion, and homosexual acts. Other topics include the development of a pluralist welfare state, religious tolerance, and the impact of the feminist and gay rights movements.