Voluntary action and social policy in Northern Ireland - Arthur Williamson

Since its inception Northern Ireland has experienced continual ethnic tension, sometimes latent, often violent. In any society the application of social policies has implications for communities whether by way of conferring advantage on some, or by disadvantaging others. Where the legitimacy of the state is rejected by a sizable minority of the population welfare becomes an important ground on which issues of legitimacy are fought out. In Northern Ireland voluntary organizations are increasingly being used by government as a means by which it may relate to heavily disadvantaged communities which are often inimical to government though dependent upon it for their social security and hence their economic survival. Regional government experiences significant pressure to use social policy to mollify dissent and to reduce the potential for inter-ethnic violence. This book deals with questions which have currency wherever governments have to govern without consensus. The study of past and current relationships between the state and the voluntary sector in Northern Ireland illustrates and illuminates an increasingly important area of public policy.