Working the border : contact and cooperation in the border region, Ireland 1949-1972

Thesis

The Irish border runs for 450 kilometres across a previously undifferentiated landscape. Along its length, two political entities struggled for political identity and recognition. Their national posturing reverberated at the local level, where residents continued to live, attempting both to maximise the advantages of their peripheral location and to minimise its disadvantages, while effectively carrying out their economic roles despite, around, and through the political divide.

The thesis examines the local contact networks which operated across the Irish border in the years between the declaration of the Republic in 1949 and the early years of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Focusing on the experiences of border communities and organisations which sought to deliver similar services on either sides of the divide, it aims to shed light on the reality of international frontiers for those living immediately around them.

The thesis focuses on five contexts of interaction: personal and economic; and professional contact between police, tourism, and local government authorities. Through these, the factors necessary for successful interaction across an international border are examined. Over the length of the period, the effects of different states of unrest or rapprochement at the national level on local and professional networks are examined.

The thesis makes extensive use of interview data with participants, both major and minor; published personal recollections; the local press; and local council reporting, in order to explore a border community within a cross-section of time. The focus is on local communities’ own words and self-perceptions, in order to counteract top-down discussions of the frontier, to illuminate the effects of political decision-making on the ground and the local factors which help shape national policy.

Authors: Zivan, N

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: geopolitics; Northern Ireland; Irish question; border region; boundaries
• Subjects: Irish question; Territory, National -- Social aspects -- Ireland; Northern Ireland -- Foreign relations -- Ireland; Ireland -- Politics and government; Ireland -- Foreign relations -- Northern Ireland; Geopolitics -- Ireland; Northern Ireland -- Boundaries -- Ireland; Ireland -- Boundaries -- Northern Ireland