32 Counties: The Failure of Partition and the Case for a United Ireland

Allen, Kieran

ISBN 10: 0745344178 / ISBN 13: 9780745344171

Published by Pluto Press, 2021

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 26388000629

Bibliographic Details

• Title: 32 Counties: The Failure of Partition and the Case for a United Ireland
• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745344178
• ISBN 13: 9780745344171
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

'This is Irish history seen anew, from below, bristling with practical lessons for working-class struggle today' - Eamonn McCann

The 32 counties of Ireland were divided through imperial terror and gerrymandering. Partition was borne from a Tory strategy to defend the British Empire and has spawned a 'carnival of reaction' in Irish politics ever since. Over the last 100 years, conservative forces have dominated both states offering religious identity as a diversion from economic failures and inequality.

Through a sharp analysis of the history of partition, Kieran Allen rejects the view that the 'two cultures' of Catholic and Protestant communities lock people into permanent antagonism. Instead, the sectarian states have kept its citizens divided through political and economic measures like austerity, competition for reduced services and low wages.

Overturning conventional narratives, 32 Counties evokes the tradition of James Connolly and calls for an Irish unity movement from below to forge the North and the Republic into a secular, socialist and united Ireland.

About the Author

Kieran Allen is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University College Dublin. His books include 1916: Ireland's Revolutionary Tradition (2016) and The Politics of James Connolly (2016).