Ward, J. orcid.org/0000-0002-3605-9931 (2024) 'Taking the border out of politics'? The 1973 Northern Ireland border poll and the political character of (de)politicisation. British Journal of Politics and International Relations. ISSN 1369-1481
Abstract
This article examines governing tactics which, prima facie, seek to remove issues from political contestation, yet utilise democracy in doing so. It explores this tension through the case of the 1973 Northern Ireland border poll. In the context of escalating violence and entrenched political conflict, the Heath government announced the poll alongside direct rule to ‘take the border out of politics’. Although the poll was consistently framed in terms of depoliticisation, it was increasingly viewed by both the government and the public as a means to reassure the unionist community of Northern Ireland’s status in the UK. This attempt to reassure the unionists exposed the political character of the strategy, strengthening the nationalist boycott campaign. However, this article argues that in reconfiguring legitimacy for the UK, the poll temporarily defused unionist concerns and allowed the UK government to claim Northern Irish citizens had a democratic right to self-determination.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: | |
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages. |
Keywords: | archival analysis; border poll; depoliticisation; direct democracy; Northern Ireland; United Ireland |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ES/Y007581/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Nov 2024 14:59 |
Last Modified: | 20 Dec 2024 10:34 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/13691481241303272 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:219143 |
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