Northern Ireland has been under the watchful eye of the public since Ireland declared its independence in 1920. It has been a focal point because six of its counties in Ulster have chosen to remain part of Great Britain. This has aroused anger within the Catholic community in Ulster and Ireland resulting in constant violence throughout Northern Ireland. As a consequence, different parties have often claimed responsibility for these violent events. These parties include the Irish Republic Army (IRA), Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Protestant Paramilitary. The main purpose of the violence was to strike fear among those who live in Northern Ireland, especially those who were either Catholics or Protestants who lived very close to one another. Over the years, more people were killed in Northern Ireland as the result of the political violence than a

To the eye, Catholics are no different than Protestants, and Irish no different from the English. But neither one would like to be called the other, nor would it be wise to mistake one for the other either. The fuel between the two religions and its power over Northern Ireland can be traced back to the 1530's, where Henry VIII led a nationalist revolt in the name of "the English nation" against the Papacy and the Catholic Church. From that point on, the idea of being English has always been linked to being Protestant. Therefore they had to defend themselves against Catholic invasions, both from the outside and within, which was the case from the 1550s to 1588.

When King James II began to persecute Protestants around 1688, Dutch ruler, William of Orange came to the rescue of Protestants in Northern Ireland. His presence was especially important during 1690, where he led an army to defeat the Catholic James in the Battle of the Boyne and secure a spot in the minds of every Protestant in Ulster. William's victory over James can be considered to be the building blocks of ethnic superiority of Protestants over Catholics in Ulster. More importantly, this triumph in the minds of Protestants put Ulster above Ireland and therefore should be considered part of Britain.

For the rest of 1995 and beginning of 1996, talks slowed and frustrated the IRA, causing the group to put an end to the cease-fire, only hours before a bomb exploded in London injuring over a 100 people. Two more bombs went off in the streets of London over the next week. This prompted Major and Bruton to set a date for the summit where they decided June 10th, 1996 to be the new date of when the peace talks will begin again. Irish nationalist political party Sinn Fein had the opportunity of being present in all of the talks only if the IRA fully restored its cease-fire. The IRA denied the request and therefore Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams did not attend any of the talks. Progress in the talks remained slow through the rest of 1996 and early 1997, and the IRA continued its terrorist activities.

All this talk of nationalism must come with a price, and there are many incidents that can be considered to be the most severe. All with one thing in common, people were killed. Anytime a life is lost, it should be considered to be nationalism's biggest consequence. Also, welfare of Ulster's citizens should be considered. Many of them now live in fear of either the IRA or the UVF. It is also because of the IRA's refusal to disarm that is causing the peace process in Northern Ireland to be so slow. The longer it takes for the peace process to finalize, there could be more lives lost and there is no possible way to account the consequences that will be suffered.

Nationalism can be put into two major categories, civic and ethnic. Civic nationalism can be thought of as an idea that a nation should be seen as a "community of equal, rights-bearing citizens, united in patriotic attachment to a shared set of political practices and values." On the other hand, ethnic nationalism claims that "an individual's deepest attachments are inherited, not chosen." Also that "it is the national community which defines the individual, not the individuals who define the national community." The English was the first group successful in establishing civic nationalism when the United Kingdom was formed with Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The people of Northern Ireland have always had civic nationalism, but it is towards England, not Ireland. Citizens of Ulster feel a sense of belonging towards England, because of their heritage of being Protestants. At the same time, it is the Protestants in them that have ethnic nat

Some common words found in the essay are:
Northern Ireland, Republic Army, Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland's, Protestants Catholics, IRA UVF, Republic Ireland, Orange Volunteer, northern ireland, Catholics Protestants, Ulster Protestants, ethnic nationalism, catholics protestants, civic nationalism, protestants catholics, irish republic, peace talks, protestants northern ireland, protestants northern, civic ethnic, strike fear, major irish prime, john major irish, irish prime minister, prime minister john,
Approximate Word count = 2504
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)