Politics, institutions and society of contemporary Ireland 15-PISWI-CE-11

This is a one semester course. The introduction to the course provides an overview of the history of Ireland since prehistoric times, through the Middle Ages, the Tudor and Stuart monarchs, as well as Cromwell’s dictatorship. The course focuses next on the importance of the Nineteenth Century for the construction of the future Irish state. Topics discussed are the Anglo-Irish union, the repeal movement, Catholic emancipation, the attitudes of the Irish towards the workers cause and electoral reforms, disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, land reform and the Home Rule movement. Then the course moves on to discuss major events of the 20th century, namely the Easter uprising and the Irish War of Independence, the partition of Ireland and the establishment of the Irish Free State, the Irish Civil War, the adoption of the Irish Constitution, and finally the post partition conflict in Northern Ireland (commonly known as the Troubles). These events are presented in the context of British history. While discussing all of these issues much attention is paid to prominent Irish politicians such as Charles Stuart Parnell, Daniel O'Connell, Michael Collins and Mary Robinson, as well as political parties of the Republic of Ireland, both historical (Irish Parliamentary Party) and contemporary (Fine Gael , Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, etc.). The discussion will include origins of the political parties, their ideologies and their role and position in the parliament. Students will become familiar with the duties of the president of Ireland, the structure and role of the Irish parliament (Oireachtas), as well as other institutions and organisations such as the Irish media and Irish cultural institutions. The students will be presented with online material (governmental websites), source texts such as versions of the Constitution of Ireland since the 1930’s. Students will also watch Irish parliamentary debates in order to better understand the Irish parliamentary process.