北アイルランドでは数百年に渡って紛争が続いており、民族や宗教の対立をはじめ、その歴史的・政治的背景は複雑に絡み合っています。全面的に改訂したこの第2版は、19世紀の共和主義の台頭からアイルランド統治法での南北分割、公民権運動、シン・フェイン党の発足とIRA暫定派の創設、そして民主統一党の登場など、北アイルランド史上の主な出来事を概観するとともに、過激派の回想から最近明らかになったことや、ジェンダー間の格差解消の取り組みなど新たな視点も盛り込みました。EU離脱に揺れ、2021年には英愛条約から100年の節目を迎える中で、統一問題をどう考えるべきかも含め考察します。
   

• A completely updated edition of this Very Short Introduction, taking into account the new prominence of Northern Ireland in international political discussion
• Considers the question of Irish unity in the light of Brexit and the approaching anniversary of the 1921 partition
• Considers new updates in scholarship on gender relations in Northern Ireland
• Draws on newly available memoirs by paramilitary militants to offer previously unexplored perspectives and insights

   
From the Plantation of Ulster in the seventeenth century to the entry into peace talks in the late twentieth century the Northern Irish people have been engaged in conflict - Catholic against Protestant, Republican against Unionist. The traumas of violence in the Northern Ireland Troubles have cast a long shadow. For many years, this appeared to be an intractable conflict with no pathway out. Mass mobilisations of people and dramatic political crises punctuated a seemingly endless succession of bloodshed. When in the 1990s and early 21st century, peace was painfully built, it brought together unlikely rivals, making Northern Ireland a model for conflict resolution internationally.
                
But disagreement about the future of the province remains, and for the first time in decades one can now seriously speak of a democratic end to the Union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain as a foreseeable possibility. The Northern Ireland problem remains a fundamental issue as the United Kingdom recasts its relationship with Europe and the world. In this completely revised edition of his Very Short Introduction Marc Mulholland explores the pivotal moments in Northern Irish history - the rise of republicanism in the 1800s, Home Rule and the civil rights movement, the growth of Sinn Fein and the provisional IRA, and the DUP, before bringing the story up to date, drawing on newly available memoirs by paramilitary militants to offer previously unexplored perspectives, as well as recent work on Nothern Irish gender relations. Mulholland also includes a new chapter on the state of affairs in 21st Century Northern Ireland, considering the question of Irish unity in the light of both Brexit and the approaching anniversary of the 1921 partition, and drawing new lessons for the future.