Irish Political History and Structure

The modern political history of Ireland can be separated into two time periods. The first period is it’s time spent under British rule as only one territory of the United Kingdom. The second period, which represents the beginning of the modern Irish state, took place during the early twentieth century. The road to national sovereignty was neither easy nor short as Britain was far from eager to let its dependent state go. The first organized movement towards independence occurred in 1916 when revolutionaries declared Ireland to be free from British rule on Easter of that year. Despite the ultimate failure of this initial push towards freedom Britain eventually granted the southern 26, of 38, counties dominion status in 1921. Further steps were taken in 1937 when Ireland drafted its constitution and was granted full sovereignty. The final phase in southern Ireland’s independence came in 1949 when its status as a British commonwealth ended and the nation was declared a republic. However, even after disassociating itself from the United Kingdom the southern counties of Ireland wouldn’t be completely satisfied as long as the remaining 6 counties that comprised Northern Ireland were still a part of Britain’s empire. The predominantly protestant northern counties of Ireland have been a barrier to peace in the region from the first days of the Republic up to today. These counties are considered as a separate state but can also be considered as the same nation. This topic will be explored in more depth after the explanations of both the current Irish state as well as what can be considered the Irish nation.

The state of Ireland encompasses 26 of the islands 32 counties and occupies all but the northeastern quarter of the island. The national government is a Republican Democracy and consists of a duel executive, a bicameral legislature and a judicial branch. The Executive branch is split into two parts and is considered to follow a variation of the Duel Executive model. The head of state in the executive branch is the president, or Uachtaran, who is directly elected by the citizens and serves a seven year term. The Executive power of the state is exercised by the cabinet, which is led by the Prime Minister. Ireland’s executive system can be considered to be a variation of the duel executive method due to the fact that the head of state ...

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..., despite pledges from both governments to work towards peace, negotiations have still been rocky at best.

On the subject of foreign affairs Ireland has traditionally stuck to a position of non-involvement and has remained neutral in the conflicts of the twentieth century. Despite Ireland’s inactivity in military affairs the nation has been considered quite active as a member of the UN since its induction in 1955. Ireland is currently very active in the Security Council and is a proponent in the process of disarmament as well as other areas of International policy. Also, there are currently some 515 Irish personnel serving on 9 UN missions. Ireland's most significent and longest standing contribution to UN peacekeeping was to the UNIFIL force in Lebanon, to which Ireland provided troops since its inception in 1978 until late 2001. Ireland is also a member of the European Union and has been since 1973. In fact this year it is Irelands turn to act as president of the EU. Participation in international groups has increased over the decades but the activities of the IRA continue to put a strain on foreign relations, especially those with Great Britain.