Peace in Ireland: The War of Ideas - Brief Article - Book Review

Contemporary Review, March, 2004

Peace in Ireland: The War of Ideas. Richard Bourke. Pimlico. [pounds sterling]10.00. xvii 462 pages. ISBN 1-8441-3316-8. The author, who was born in Dublin but now teaches in London, discusses Northern Ireland's 'troubles' from the late 1960s to the present attempt at a settlement, the period from 'apparently insurmountable civil strife to the achievement of political agreement'.

Behind the sectarian killing and intransigent attitudes lies, he argues, 'a collision of ideas'. The dispute was 'a product of modern democracy ... the value of political equality' i.e., Ulster's democratic institutions could not produce equality for those who felt the lack thereof and conflict resulted. What was lacking was a pledge by the entire population to achieve the common good, not the good of the majority or of one particular 'tribe'. Majority rule in Northern Ireland simply did not work for all its people. When this is mixed with a terrorist organisation waiting in the wings, which in turn gives rise to opposing terrorist gangs, one has 'the troubles'. A majority decision to remain British is, therefore, no more 'valid' than, in the years to come, a similar decision to become Irish. Majority rule neither has worked nor will work without an acceptance of the common good. This intriguing analysis could be called a study into the limits of democracy and its devotion to majority rule. (P.P.F.)