Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.--University College, London). / Includes bibliographical references (p. 264-277) and index.

Thesis (PhD--History)--University of Auckland, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

When the federation of the thirteen English colonies into the United States of America was finally achieved in 1776, powerful influences had made it certain that this new nation would have religious freedom and that it would not maintain an established church. Among those influences was the influence of an overwhelming number of settlers known as Ulster Scots, or Scotch-Irish, who emigrated into the colonies from Northern Ireland between the years 1720 and 1775. They came as dissenters from the Established Church in northern Ireland and remained dissenters from the Established Church as they found it where they settled along the frontiers of the Southern Colonies of Virginia, North and South Carolina. From 1720, the year these Ulstermen emigrated to the colonies in any appreciable numbers, until 1775 at the outbreak of hostilities between the colonies and England, they exerted a significant influence upon the achievement of religious liberty. Although the Ulster Scots were the most widely distributed of immigrants except those from England, being found in all thirteen colonies at the time of the Revolution, their influence in achieving religious freedom was most effective in the Southern Colonies where their numbers were most effective in the Southern Colonies where their numbers were five times as large as in the north. The development of religious liberty in colonial America has been determined to have had its impetus in three factors. First, the large and influential number of sects in the colonies; second, the liberal philosophy of sects in the colonies; second, the liberal philosophy of the 18th century with its relationalistic temper coupled with a fervent evangelical zeal that is reflected in the revivalistic movement of the Great Awakening across the middle of the 18th century; and thirdly, the ecclesiastical and political influence and interference of England. The Ulster Scots were directly concerned with the first and second factors. The third factor, however, does not relate itself to them primarily because they were situated on the western frontier of the Southern Colonies and not directly connected with any major commercial interests which developed such a display of emotion as was to be found in such centers of commerce as Boston and Philadelphia. The effort on the part of some colonials to prevent the appointment of a resident Bishop of the Anglican Church in the colonies does not appear to have made much impression on the Ulster Scots in the Southern Colonies, as the opponents to such a move were confined principally to the New England and to a lesser extent in the Middle Colonies. Opposition in the Southern Colonies to the appointment of a resident Bishop was found among the Anglican planters who had, for all intents and purposes, control of the Establishment through the vestries and did not wish to lose it. Because the Ulster Scots were the largest group among the sects dissenting from the Establishment who settled in the Southern Colonies their influence was proportionately greater in the achievement of religious liberty in these colonies than any other. But equal in importance with their numerical strength was the site of their settlements in the Southern Colonies. Prevented largely from setting in the more well-established tidewater area of the colonies of Virginia and South Carolina, they were forced to push westward into what was called the back country, or the frontier settlements were initiated by the emigration of these Ulster Scots from the colony of Pennsylvania who came down the eastern and western valleys of the mountain range which extends across the western flank of the Southern Colonies. There, in the isolation of the wilderness, their influence for the achievement of religious liberty exerted itself along with other dessenters from the Establishment so as to hasten the disestablishment of the Anglican church in the Southern colonies at the outbreak of the revolution, and usher in religious liberty.

En 1976, le phénomène punk surgit à Londres, semble remettre en cause certains des codes sociaux et des normes culturelles la société britannique, et est le sujet d’une « panique morale ». La même année, en Irlande du Nord, 297 personnes sont tuées à cause du conflit. Les Sex Pistols invoquent l’anarchie dans leurs textes, mais pour les nord-irlandais, « Anarchy in the UK » est bien plus qu’une chanson : il s’agit de leur quotidien. Pourtant, alors que le conflit fait rage, alors que protestants et catholiques restent cantonnés dans leurs quartiers respectifs, des centaines de jeunes issus de deux communautés que tout semble opposer se retrouvent semaine après semaine dans les mêmes lieux pour partager une passion commune : celle du punk rock. Quelles sont les spécificités que présentent le punk en Irlande du Nord ? Quel impact ce phénomène de culture populaire a-t-il sur les pratiques des jeunes Nord-Irlandais qui participent à cette scène et à cette subculture alors que le conflit bat son plein ? Quels mécanismes permettent aux punks d’imaginer et d’incarner une « Alternative Ulster » ? Afin d’apporter des réponses à ces questions, le présent travail s’attache à retracer l’émergence de la scène punk nord-irlandaise (1976-1983), à analyser les manières dont sont « pratiqués » les lieux sur lesquels elle repose, à interroger l’importance de la tenue et du corps punk et, finalement, à mettre en lumière les thématiques qui traversent la chanson punk. / In 1976, punk took the United Kingdom by surprise, and for one brief moment, challenged some of the cultural and social assumptions of British society, shocking public opinion and causing an outbreak of moral panic in its wake. The Sex Pistols could sing about it, but for people living in Northern Ireland, “Anarchy in the UK” was more than just a song, it was what they experienced in their everyday lives. Yet, while the conflict raged on, and at a time when cross-community contact had become uncommon, a minority of the North’s youth turned to punk. These young Catholics and Protestants ignored their political and religious differences and met up in streets and record shops during the day, and at night crowded into the few bars and pubs that allowed punk bands to play. What specific features did Northern Ireland punk display? What impact did this popular culture phenomenon have on the practices of the young participants who took part in this scene and subculture in the midst of the “Troubles”? What mechanisms enabled punks to imagine and embody an “Alternative Ulster”? In order to find answers to these questions, we will provide an account of the emergence of the punk scene in Northern Ireland (1976-1983), analyse the ways in which its spaces were “practiced”, examine the importance of punk dress and, finally, explore the themes which appear in punk rock songs.

Cette thèse se propose d’étudier l’écriture des masculinités dans la fiction nord-irlandaise contemporaine. Le corpus est constitué de six romans publiés pendant la décennie qui suit le traité de paix de 1998 : Breakfast on Pluto de Patrick McCabe (1998), No Bones d’Anna Burns (2001), Fodder de Tara West (2002), The Ultras d’Eoin McNamee (2004), Little Constructions d’Anna Burns (2007) et The Truth Commissioner de David Park (2008). Les enjeux politiques et sociologiques spécifiques que cristallise la question de la masculinité dans le nord de l’Irlande se mesurent à l’aune des Troubles et du processus de paix. Une dialectique entre conformisme et subversion des codes de la virilité est à l’œuvre dans les romans étudiés dont les stratégies d’écritures mènent à une reconfiguration de la masculinité en « anti-virilité » pour révéler les composantes et mécanismes du stéréotype. L’analyse de la suprématie de la masculinité puis de la subordination de la féminité dans les romans à l’étude nous conduit à observer une orientation féministe queer. De cette reconfiguration particulière de la virilité et du dévoilement de la dimension genrée des rapports de pouvoir, émerge un contre-discours qui met en question le récit hégémonique de paix présent dans la sphère publique. Dans ces fictions, l’injonction à « tourner la page » et l’optimisme ambiant de cette rhétorique sont ébranlés par les diverses manifestations des scories du passé qui mettent en évidence un profond malaise dans le nord de Irlande aux lendemains des accords de paix. / This thesis explores the concept of masculinity in contemporary Northern-Irish fiction. My body of texts is constituted by six novels published in the decade after the Good Friday Agreement (1998): Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe (1998), No Bones by Anna Burns (2001), Fodder by Tara West (2002), The Ultras by Eoin McNamee (2004), Little Constructions by Anna Burns (2007) and The Truth Commissioner by David Park (2008). Because of the close links between masculinity, violence, national identity and the military, the issue of masculinity is of particular importance in the aftermath of the Troubles and of the peace process in Northern Ireland. In the novels, a dialectics between conformism and subversion of codes of manliness develops and reconfigures masculinity as ‘anti-virility’ in order to reveal the characteristics and functioning of the stereotype. The focus first on the supremacy of masculinity and then on the subordination of femininity in the novels leads us to notice a queer and feminist orientation in the writing strategies. This particular reshaping of masculinity and the unveiling of the gender order enable the emergence of a counter-narrative which challenges the hegemonic discourse about peace in the Northern-Irish public sphere. The aggressive incitement to make a fresh start and the pervasive optimism of this rhetoric are debunked by the lingering past residuals in the novels which ultimately display a profound malaise in the post-conflict Northern Ireland.

(in English): The thesis deals with murals of Northern Ireland and their role in the ethno-political conflict (1969-1998) and the post-conflict transformation (1998-2016). It examines them as tools of "ideological war" with purpose of influencing the way in which members of the communities perceive reality, thus gaining their support for the activity of the movement or organisation which stands behind the mural. Mural painting is set in three contexts. Firstly, the thesis analyses the inter-group dynamics of both Northern Ireland communities, the dominant identities and ideologies. It argues that just as the Troubles are not a clash of two homogenic blocks, the murals cannot be understood as "people's art" created by the community as such. Secondly, it looks at murals in context of symbolic expressions in Northern Ireland's public space, investigates its territorial function and means of not only reflecting the reality through specific psychocultural or ideological explanation, but also further spreading this vision of reality. Thirdly, it considers the mural painting tradition as a dynamic process that developed through the course of the conflict and after, and examines this development from the military imagery of the 1980s to the re-imaging process of the post-conflict era.

The thesis is focusing on commercial diplomacy in the United Kingdom of Great Britain during the coalition government of David Cameron between 2010 - 2015. In globalized world, where the commercial diplomacy is done by not only state actors but also private ones, management of commercial diplomacy as well as priorities and strategies play crucial role. The Thesis analyses structure of the system and includes case study of British commercial diplomacy in the Czech Republic. Based on theoretical acknowledgments we can evaluate the of British Commercial Diplomacy in the reporting period which was affected by economic crisis.

The diploma thesis titled Securitisation of Organized Violence in Europe: The Case of Great Britain and Italy deals with the analysis of security discourses in the United Kingdom during the conflict in Northern Ireland and Italy during the war with the Sicilian Mafia according to the securitization theory of the so-called Copenhagen School and their subsequent comparison. The main aim of this thesis is to capture the form of securitization processes in Italy in connection with the local organized crime. To reach this objective the situation in Italy is confronted with securitization processes in Northern Ireland whose conflict is a frequent subject of international relations and security studies. The theory of securitization as a research tool is presented in its original form formulated by the Copenhagen School and is supplemented by numerous criticisms by later securitization theorists. A significant part of the thesis is focused on a thorough analysis of historical and social context of the investigated phenomenon and on capturing of many securitization statements of political actors to which this work is primarily oriented. The discourse analysis is structured into five stages that reflect the most dramatic periods in development of the presented issue. These periods are characterized by the...

The topic of this thesis is the Irish issue in the light of the Brexit debates. British people decided to leave the European Union in referendum in June 2016. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty was activated 29th of March 2017. Two years long negotiating period started from that date. The withdrawal agreement proposal which was approved by all 27 members of the European Union was rejected three times by British parliament. Brexit was postponed until the end of October of 2019. Future relationship on the island of Ireland with Irish backstop became the main barrier of Brexit negotiations. Both sides of negotiations agree on no possibility of hard border between Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Both of them want to follow The Good Friday Agreement of 1998. On the other hand none of them is willing to step aside from their earlier requirements. Theresa May, British prime minister, decided to leave the EU Custom Union and the European Single Market resolutely. The EU rejected to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement proposal that includes the Irish backstop. The Irish backstop guarantee maintaining an open border on the island of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without securing an all-encompassing deal. Great Britain is afraid to lost control over its territory. Based on the...

The purpose of this MA thesis is to analyse the function of the comic elements in several post-conflict Northern Irish plays that deal with the legacy of the Troubles. This thesis stems from the hypothesis that the approach towards the armed conflict has changed during the 20 years of peace and has allowed playwrights to offer comical perspectives that not only critically engage with the issue, but at the same time help both sides of the conflict deal with the remaining trauma caused by it. The thesis provides a close reading of four Northern Irish plays which have achieved a considerable critical acclaim. The four plays chosen for the purpose of this MA thesis are: Tim Loane's comedies Caught Red Handed (2002), produced by the Tinderbox Theatre Company, and first performed in 2002 as a site-specific piece at the Northern Bank Building in Belfast; To Be Sure (2007), also written by Tim Loane, which premiered at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast five years later;1 The History of the Troubles (accordin' to my Da) (2002), a collaboration between the playwright Martin Lynch and the comedians Connor Grimes and Alan McKee, first performed at the Northern Bank as a commission by the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival; and David Ireland's Cyprus Avenue (2016), which premiered the Abbey Theatre in 2016. The choice...