Cities are close-knit communities. When rival ethnic groups develop which refuse to concede predominance, deep conflicts may occur. Some have been managed peacefully, as in Brussels and Montreal. Other cases, such as Danzig/Gdansk and Trieste have, more or less forcefully, been resolved in favour of one of the parties. In further cases, such as Belfast and Jerusalem, protracted violence has not delivered a solution. Contested Cities in the Modern West examines the roles of international interventions, state policies and social processes in influencing such situations, with particular...

The Irish revolution of 1916-23 is generally regarded as a success. It was a disastrous failure, however, for the Catholic and nationalist minority in what became Northern Ireland. It resulted in partition, a discriminatory majoritarian regime and, more recently, a generation of renewed violence and a decade of political impasse. It is often suggested that the blame for this outcome rests not only on "perfidious Albion" and the "bigotry" of Ulster Unionism but also on the constitutional nationalist leaders, John Redmond, John Dillon and Joe Devlin. This book argues that, on the contrary, the...