Single Europe, single Ireland - James Goodman

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-19th century. Since the 1950s this unevenness has been reversed, first though economic convergence, and with increasing intensity, through ideological and institutional reorientations. Integration in the EU'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.;This is an outline of the process of reversing uneven development. The first chapter provides an historical account of the conflict, emphasizing its north-south dimensions. This provides an essential backdrop to discussions of socio-economic interest, party political positions and state policies, north and south. Across these issues, the process of EU integration is linked to the proofs of convergence in Ireland. This is set against on-going and in some respects, intensified divisions and divergence - leading to the author's conclusion that north-south linkages require concerted state action and guidance.