The Dynamics of a Divided Regime

1970 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Rose

‘L'Irlande est une petite contreé sur laquelle se débattent les plus grandes questions de la politique, de la morale, et de l'humanité.’Gustave de Beaumont, 1839IT IS MUCH EASIER TO EXPLAIN THE COURSE OF A FULLY LEGITIMATE, a fully repudiated or a fully coercive regime than to explain what goes on in a regime that is persistently divided. Northern Ireland is an excellent case study of a regime that lacks the stability or quasistability of these three familiar types of political authority. The regime there has always been divided, i.e., the constitution is supported by only a portion of the population, and a substantial fraction of its nominal subjects are inclined to disobey basic political 1aws. It is particularly striking that this should happen in a land where the institutions of government are explicitly modelled after the Parliament of the United Kingdom to which it is bound, and the culture permits the easy assimilation of its emigrants to life in Britain and America. To understand why industrialization and urbanization together have not produced a fully legitimate regime, one must look back into the history of Ireland, and examine the strategy of political leaders who commenced governing in less than ideal circumstances. Then one can begin to understand the multiple and extreme challenges to the regime today.

1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Brazier

BEFORE the dawn of the millennium new legislative and executive authorities will have been established in Edinburgh, Cardiff and (subject to further political and other progress) in Belfast. This article analyses the nature of these constitutional initiatives, and examines their place in the unitary state which is the United Kingdom. It begins by tracing the history of constitutional union between England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The legal effect of the 1998 devolution statutes is examined, in particular on the legal sovereignty of the United Kingdom Parliament. A triple constitutional and legal lock exists in the Scotland Act 1998 to ensure that the devolution settlement is the final step away from the pure unitary state which has enfolded Scotland in Great Britain. The nature and likely success of that lock are analysed in some detail. The lawmaking powers of the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and the Northern Ireland Assembly are assessed. The similarities and differences between each of the three devolved governments and the British Government are highlighted, and consequences and possible lessons for future government-making at Westminster are drawn. The article concludes with a peer into the possible constitutional futures for the United Kingdom.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Fox ◽  
Lev Topor

In order to place the empirical findings of this study into a more concrete context, in this chapter the authors examine the United Kingdom as a case study, using traditional comparative politics qualitative methodology. They examine the history of anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews in the United Kingdom, focusing on the religious, anti-Zionist, and conspiracy-based explanations in this context. They demonstrate that it is plausible to argue that all three of these motives have caused discrimination against Jews in the United Kingdom. The chapter also discusses briefly the allegations of anti-Semitism by the Labour Party in recent years, specifically under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Schwetman

Derry Girls (2018–present) playfully satirizes regionalism and first-person narrative while re-enacting a collective memory of the Troubles. A close reading of the series’ opening montage provides the basis for a fuller understanding of the programme’s nuanced critique of efforts to look back on Northern Ireland in the 1990s and make sense of it all with the benefit of hindsight. In lieu of the reassurances of authoritative extradiegetic commentary, the series’ opening monologue provides a humorous account of the unresolved tribulations of adolescence and, in the larger political frame, a community’s continuing inability to situate itself as a region within the United Kingdom.


Author(s):  
Neil Parpworth

This chapter discusses the structure and devolution of the UK. It first sketches the constitutional history of the UK, presenting a brief outline of events that led to the creation of the UK, i.e. the union of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The chapter then examines the issue of devolution, which has been particularly important to the people of Scotland and Wales. The key provisions of the devolution legislation enacted in 1998 and more recent legislative developments are reviewed. The chapter concludes by considering the ‘English Question’ and the agreements between the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.


1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-477
Author(s):  
R D Osborne

Examples of social research having a direct influence on public policy are rare. One such example drawn from Northern Ireland is described in this paper. The case study is located in the particular political and constitutional circumstances of Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom and the role that social research can play is discussed. It is suggested that sensitivity to political realities and awareness of divisions between government departments and agencies can often determine the influence research may have on policy matters.


Author(s):  
Neil Parpworth

This chapter discusses the structure and devolution of the UK. It first sketches the constitutional history of the UK, presenting a brief outline of events that led to the creation of the UK, ie the union of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The chapter then examines the issue of devolution, which has been particularly important to the people of Scotland and Wales. The key provisions of the devolution legislation enacted in 1998 and more recent legislative developments are reviewed. The chapter concludes by considering the ‘English Question’, and the agreements between the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and the devolution provisions in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.


1891 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 136-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Deuchar

At so striking an epoch in the history of our times as the Jubilee of our Most Gracious Queen, it seems natural that those who are engaged in any special branch of trade, or commerce, or science, should look back with interest at the records of the progress of that branch during the period then completed; and I therefore venture to hope that the particulars which I have collected regarding the progress of Life Assurance Business in the United Kingdom during the last half-century, and which I propose to lay before you this evening, may prove in some degree interesting to you.Before submitting to you these particulars, I think it may be useful if I refer for a few minutes to the condition of the United Kingdom in 1837, and to the changes which have occurred since then in matters which have had an important, though indirect, bearing on Life Assurance Business.


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