The conflict in Northern Ireland date back to the British conquest of Ireland in the 12th century. The current troubles have their roots in the nationalist uprising in 1916, which was brutally suppressed by the British Army. Six years later, in 1922, after a guerrilla war, most of Ireland won its independence. The six North-Eastern counties, sometimes called Ulster, with a Protestant majority, remained to the United Kingdom and had a Protestant dominated parliament, called the Stormont. There is a central constitutional problem, the "Northern Irish problemaE?, which is not only one problem, but also a tangle of interrelated problems. What should be the political context for the people of Northern Ireland? Should it be integrated within Britain or a united Ireland or independent? There are problems of cultural identity and of religious difference. These may be the dominating ones, because the Northern Irish parties are founded on

Though most political parties in Northern Ireland are "confessional partiesaE?, there are a number of bi-confessional parties. The Alliance Party is the principal party that is supported mainly by middle and upper class people from both confessions (Northern Ireland Labour was an other example before the sixties), because the Alliance Party doesn't identify with Protestant sectarianism. This party favours a Northern Ireland solution, based on power sharing. At first side it may be surprising that Catholics vote for a Northern Ireland solution, but it's becoming clear when you look at it again: these Catholics are members of the community who are in favour of the maintenance of the union.

the bases of such divisions. The polarisation of the main political groupings takes place around two competing ideologies, namely unionism and nationalism. Unionists support Northern Ireland remaining a part of the United Kingdom, while Nationalists are in favour of its union with the rest of Ireland. This political cleavage is also expressed in the re

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Approximate Word count = 703
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)