The SDLP has consistently defined the Northern Ireland problem as one of a divided people, rather than a territorial issue. Therefore, it raises the important question: how much revision from the traditional nationalist perspective does the SDLP portray, if at all, from the mid-70s onwards? The major objective of this study is to investigate the tensions within the party over its political identity. From the SDLP viewpoint, the huge 'yes' vote (in the 22nd May, 1998 Referendum after this book went to press), offers the greatest hope in Northern Ireland's history that Catholics and Protestants can live together on the basis of respect and equality.

John Hume - civil rights activist, founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and leading politician in Northern Ireland during the long period of the Troubles - gained worldwide recognition and respect for his principled opposition to the use of violence as a means of resolving the deep divisions between the people of Northern Ireland, between those who favor Irish unity and those who favor maintaining the union with Britain. His constant message was the need to heal sundered relationships between the people of Ireland, north and south, and between the people of Ireland and Britain. This book of essays assesses John Hume's role throughout the Troubles as he campaigned in Ireland, Europe, and the US to influence politicians and opinion makers in the cause of justice and peace. These essays discuss: the political background to his entry into public life in 1960s Derry as a champion of the credit union movement * the civil rights campaign * the Sunningdale Agreement * the failed efforts to establish a power-sharing executive * the trauma of terrorism * the hunger strikes * his role in Europe and the US * the Anglo-Irish Agreement * the Hume-Adams dialogue * the Good Friday Agreement. [Subject: Irish Studies, Politics, History]

"John Hume is regarded as the key architect of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This book collects extracts from Hume's speeches, articles and interviews, and adds a contextual narrative. The selected texts chronicle his entire career, covering his entry into public life in the early 1960s through the credit union, the Derry Housing Association and the civil rights movement, his first election to the Northern Ireland Parliament, the foundation of the SDLP, his influence over successive Irish governments, and the various initiatives aimed at ending the violence and achieving an acceptable agreement. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Hume's political thoughts, his comments on critical events and developments, and his proposals for resolving the Northern Irish conflict. Hume's commitment to human rights, and his implacable opposition to violence as a means of addressing conflict emerge from the texts, as does his transformative influence on the development of Irish and British attitudes and policies, as governments grappled with the problems arising from the troubled relationships within and between the two islands"--Publisher's website.

Hume recounts the struggle for the nationalist community's rights and presents a blueprint for peace.

Fifteen minutes before five o'clock on Good Friday, 1998, Senator George Mitchell was informed that his long and difficult quest for an Irish peace accord had succeeded--the Protestants and Catholics of Northern Ireland, and the governments of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, would sign the agreement. Now Mitchell, who served as independent chairman of the peace talks for the length of the process, tells us the inside story of the grueling road to this momentous accord. For more than two years, Mitchell, who was Senate majority leader under Presidents Bush and Clinton, labored to bring together parties whose mutual hostility--after decades of violence and mistrust--seemed insurmountable: Sinn Fein, represented by Gerry Adams; the Catholic moderates, led by John Hume; the majority Protestant party, headed by David Trimble; Ian Paisley's hard-line unionists; and, not least, the governments of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, headed by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair. The world watched as the tense and dramatic process unfolded, sometimes teetering on the brink of failure. Here, for the first time, we are given a behind-the-scenes view of the principal players--the personalities who shaped the process--and of the contentious, at times vitriolic, proceedings. We learn how, as the deadline approached, extremist violence and factional intransigence almost drove the talks to collapse. And we witness the intensity of the final negotiating session, the interventions of Ahern and Blair, the late-night phone calls from President Clinton, a last-ditch attempt at disruption by Paisley, and ultimately an agreement that, despite subsequent inflammatory acts aimed at destroying it, has set Northern Ireland's future on track toward a more lasting peace.

The Boys of St. Columb's chronicles the schooldays of eight illustrious alumni of St. Columb's College in Derry, Northern Ireland, and the political consequences of their education. A companion to a BBC/RTÉ documentary film, The Boys of St. Columb’s (2010), this book traces the first generation of children to receive free grammar school education as a result of the groundbreaking 1947 Education Act in the region. The boys were Bishop Edward Daly, SDLP leader and Nobel Peace Prize–winner John Hume, poet and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, critic Seamus Deane, diplomat James Sharkey, activist Eamonn McCann, and musicians Phil Coulter and Paul Brady. Maurice Fitzpatrick incorporates extensive interviews with this group of extraordinary figures five decades after they graduated, and their stories still resonate today with unique reflections on their backgrounds and their coming of age. The book’s historical relevance has continued to grow since it first appeared in 2010, and the narrative can be viewed in a new light as a result of the current political realities in the UK and Ireland.

Since the plantation of Ulster in the 17th century, Northern Irish people have been engaged in conflict - Catholic against Protestant, Republican against Unionist. This text explores the pivotal moments in this history.

A political history of the SDLP and Sinn Féin, from the onset of The Troubles in 1970 to the present day. It outlines the ideological and electoral rivalry between the two parties and assesses the contribution of both to the reshaping of modern nationalist politics in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with prominent Sinn Féin members, the authors examine the dynamics of Republican politics since 1970, explaining why armed struggle was replaced by electoral politics, and why Sinn Féin is likely to consolidate its position as the primary representative of Northern Ireland's nationalists.

Lee Smithey examines how symbolic cultural expressions in Northern Ireland, such as parades, bonfires, murals, and commemorations, provide opportunities for Protestant unionists and loyalists to reconstruct their collective identities and participate in conflict transformation.

Gerry Adams'personal statement on the meaning, importance, and inspiration of modern Irish republicanism.