Contributor:

Professor Alvin Jackson

Talk Title:

Rethinking unionism and partition, 1900-1921

Talk Synopsis:

This talk explores how the partition of Ireland was ‘an evolving set of events, rather than a single act.’ It describes the ‘long-term drift within Irish unionist politics… towards a local, northern predominance’. And it looks at how partition changed from being a ‘tactical ploy’ for unionists to a ‘negotiating goal’ and how what had been intended as a ‘soft border between different parts of the British imperial world was… displaced by a newly minted international frontier.’ It suggests that partition ‘underlines the operation of the law of unintended consequences in Irish politics’ and explains how it led to the division of Ireland and its people and also ‘the division of unionism itself.’

Short Biography:

Alvin Jackson is Richard Lodge Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh. He is an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Further Reading:

Partition in Ireland, India and Palestine: Theory and Practice – T.G. Fraser