A sustained and systematic attempt to draw together political and historical scholarship on the Sunningdale experiment and the Ulster Workers' Council strike (1973-4) in Northern Ireland, revisiting the period to explore its lessons and echoes today.

The 'Sunningdale experiment' of 1973-4 witnessed the first attempt to establish peace in Northern Ireland through power-sharing. However, its provisions, particularly the cross-border 'Council of Ireland', proved to be a step too far. The experiment floundered amid ongoing paramilitary-led violence, finally collapsing in May 1974 as a result of the Ulster Workers' Council strike.Drawing on new scholarship from some of the top political historians working on the period, this book presents a series of reflections on how key protagonists struggled with notions of power-sharing and the 'Irish dimension', and how those struggles inhibited a deepening of democracy and the ending of violence for so long.

Part I: Introduction and overview of the Sunningdale Agreement1 IntroductionDavid McCann and Cillian McGrattan2 The Ulster Workers’ Council strike: the perfect stormGordon Gillespie3 Understanding aspiration, anxiety, assumption and ambiguity: the anatomy of SunningdaleArthur AugheyPart II: The lessons of Sunningdale: the key protagonists4 Sunningdale and the Irish dimension: a step too far?John Coakley5 British government policy post 1974: learning slowly between Sunningdales?Eamonn O’Kane6 British security policy and the Sunningdale Agreement: the consequences of using force to combat terrorism in a liberal democracyAaron Edwards7 Sunningdale and the limits of ‘rejectionist’ UnionismStuart Aveyard and Shaun McDaid8 Stan Orme and the road to ‘Industrial Democracy’: British attempts at the politicisation of working-class Protestants in Northern Ireland, 1973–75Tony Craig9 Power sharing and the Irish dimension: the conundrum for the SDLP in Northern IrelandSarah Campbell10 ‘1974 – Year of Liberty’? The Provisional IRA and SunningdaleHenry PattersonPart III: The legacies of Sunningdale11 Cultural responses to and the legacies of SunningdaleConnal Parr12 ‘Slow learners’? Comparing the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast/Good Friday AgreementThomas HennesseyAppendix: The Sunningdale Agreement (December 1973)ReferencesIndex

The 'Sunningdale experiment' of 1973-4 witnessed the first attempt to establish peace in Northern Ireland through power-sharing. However, its provisions, particularly the cross-border 'Council of Ireland', proved to be a step too far. The experiment floundered amid ongoing paramilitary-led violence, finally collapsing in May 1974 as a result of the Ulster Workers' Council strike.

Drawing on new scholarship from some of the top political historians working on the period, this book presents a series of reflections on how key protagonists struggled with notions of power-sharing and the 'Irish dimension', and how those struggles inhibited a deepening of democracy and the ending of violence for so long.