L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher

This paper analyses the successive British governments' action in Northern Ireland from 1968 through the seventies. It shows that in this period, London's action was marked by its sometimes passive, sometimes active alliance with the Northern Irish unionist bloc. The first section shows th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Philippe Cauvet
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique 2017-12-01
Series:Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1704
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846131861692088320
author Philippe Cauvet
author_facet Philippe Cauvet
author_sort Philippe Cauvet
collection DOAJ
description This paper analyses the successive British governments' action in Northern Ireland from 1968 through the seventies. It shows that in this period, London's action was marked by its sometimes passive, sometimes active alliance with the Northern Irish unionist bloc. The first section shows that until the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime minister, the central government's action was defined by its refusal to confront the unionist majority in Northern Ireland, which makes this period a specific phase of governmental action in the 30 years of conflict. The second section demonstrates that this alliance resulted in the limited effectiveness or even failure of London's action in the field of law and order. The third section compares the 1973 Sunningdale initiative and the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement showing that the failure of Sunningdale can also be explained by London's dependence on Northern Irish unionist forces.
format Article
id doaj-art-f86485e6fcd3481c92ed950f9edbe93a
institution Kabale University
issn 0248-9015
2429-4373
language English
publishDate 2017-12-01
publisher Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique
record_format Article
series Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
spelling doaj-art-f86485e6fcd3481c92ed950f9edbe93a2024-12-09T15:27:05ZengCentre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation BritanniqueRevue Française de Civilisation Britannique0248-90152429-43732017-12-012210.4000/rfcb.1704L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à ThatcherPhilippe CauvetThis paper analyses the successive British governments' action in Northern Ireland from 1968 through the seventies. It shows that in this period, London's action was marked by its sometimes passive, sometimes active alliance with the Northern Irish unionist bloc. The first section shows that until the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime minister, the central government's action was defined by its refusal to confront the unionist majority in Northern Ireland, which makes this period a specific phase of governmental action in the 30 years of conflict. The second section demonstrates that this alliance resulted in the limited effectiveness or even failure of London's action in the field of law and order. The third section compares the 1973 Sunningdale initiative and the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement showing that the failure of Sunningdale can also be explained by London's dependence on Northern Irish unionist forces.https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1704Northern Ireland1970sHeathWilsonCallaghan
spellingShingle Philippe Cauvet
L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher
Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
Northern Ireland
1970s
Heath
Wilson
Callaghan
title L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher
title_full L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher
title_fullStr L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher
title_full_unstemmed L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher
title_short L'Etat britannique et la crise en Irlande du Nord : de Wilson à Thatcher
title_sort l etat britannique et la crise en irlande du nord de wilson a thatcher
topic Northern Ireland
1970s
Heath
Wilson
Callaghan
url https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1704
work_keys_str_mv AT philippecauvet letatbritanniqueetlacriseenirlandedunorddewilsonathatcher