1. Northern Ireland’s 100th Birthday
- Author:
- Brendan O'Leary
- Publication Date:
- 09-2021
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Brown Journal of World Affairs
- Institution:
- Brown Journal of World Affairs
- Abstract:
- On 23 December 2020, Northern Ireland turned one hundred years old— that is, if its birthday is dated by the ratification of the Government of Ireland Act by King George V. Officially titled “An Act for the better Government of Ireland,” it became known to Irish nationalists and republicans as the partition act.1 The U.K. Parliament passed the act without a single vote in its favor from a member of Parliament elected in Ireland. The proposed British “solution” to Ireland’s right to self-determination was the invention of two Irelands, “Northern Ireland” and “Southern Ireland,” each scheduled to be a devolved government within the Union of Great Britain and Ireland. The proposal was enacted during what we Irish call the “War of Independence.”2
- Topic:
- Politics, History, and Territorial Disputes
- Political Geography:
- Europe and North Ireland