ABSTRACT
In·deed, the view of successive British governments has been that direct rule is only a temporary expedient and certainly not a solution to the problems of Northern Ireland. The legislation giving effect to direct rule in 1972 was the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act. The Labour government's White Paper of July 1974, The Northern Ireland Constitution, the document which paved the way for the Northern Ireland Act of the same year, made it clear that direct rule was envisaged as a set of 'temporary arrangements'. What defines these exceptional 'temporary' arrangements in terms of the assumed 'norm' of Northern Ireland politics?
