Modern Ireland has been shaped by British policy, and this has itself been influenced by British political habits and traditions. Social and economic reforms, and new governmental institutions, have been applied by politicians both of the left and the right. The 'Framework Documents' represent the latest attempt to achieve what Gladstone, David Lloyd George and Neville Chamberlain sought, yet failed, to achieve: a lasting settlement of the political divisions within Ireland, and between Ireland and Great Britain. This book places the Irish question in the wider context of the history of the British Isles, and thus seeks to explain its special place in British history as the 'Oldest Question', and as a question for contemporary Britain. Fully revised and with a new chapter to bring the analysis up to 1996, this new edition of Professor Boyce's work will be widely welcomed.

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