Single Europe Single Ireland?

The national conflict in Ireland has created, and feeds off, sharply uneven development between the island s north and south. This is reflected in a history of diverging socio-economic interests, conflicting ideological positions and divided institutions, which date back to the mid-nineteenth century. Since the 1950s this unevenness has been reversed, first through economic convergence, and with increasing intensity, through ideological and institutional reorientations. Integration in the European Union s Single Market has greatly accelerated this process, to the extent that the need for stronger north-south linkages has almost reached the status of conventional wisdom, north and south. Single Europe, Single Ireland? outlines this process of reversing uneven development providing an historical account of the conflict, emphasising its north-south dimensions. This gives an essential backdrop to discussions of socio-economic interests, party-political positions and state policies, north and south. Across these issue areas, the process of EU integration is linked to the wider process of convergence in Ireland. This is set against on-going divisions and divergences, leading to the conclusion in the book that North-South linkages require concerted state action and guidance.