ABSTRACT
It was once wryly observed that Irish history was something Irishmen should never remember and Englishmen should never forget. This chapter illustrates how the past structures the present—;; specifically, how the political development of Northern Ireland, leading in 1969 to the outbreak of the present civil conflict, is a product of that history. The inability of Britain to successfully integrate Ireland politically or culturally into a viable model of common citizenship throughout the nineteenth century led eventually to calls for some degree of political autonomy. The political culture in the early years of the new state was therefore dominated by fear and uncertainty. This condition remains a feature of the unionist psyche today, and insecurity about their political surroundings is a central dynamic of contemporary unionists' political behavior. The political history of Northern Ireland from 1920 until the breakdown of the Storming regime in 1972 is a story of missed opportunities and myopic political vision.
