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Open research questions in Irish and British Studies

41 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 4,013 Irish and British Studies papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The upsurge in race hate and racism has to be viewed in the context of the continuing existence of loyalist paramilitary groups and most especially the enduring sectarian division which is shown to have not been adequately addressed in the years since the Belfast Agreement of 1998.

    Systemic sectarianism in Northern Ireland · 2024 · DOI

  • I look at some important, if little known and perhaps quirky, interactions: Erskine’s relationship with the Irish poet and revolutionary, Patrick Pearse; Erskine’s critique of the “Anglo-Irish school” in the form of the Abbey Theatre and, finally, his engagement with obscure ideas to restore the High King of Ireland.

    Principles and Curses: The Honourable Ruaraidh Erskine of Mar and Some Irish Connections · 2023 · DOI

  • This article explores one sub-section of ARC’s data, relating to the strikingly negative experiences of abortion-seekers attempting to access care between ten and twelve weeks in Irish hospitals: a thus far underexplored aspect of abortion experience in the Republic of Ireland.

    Unruly bodies (of knowledge): influencing Irish abortion policy through evidence-based abortion activism · 2023 · DOI

  • It argues that crimes of this nature may have been under-reported, as women had no incentive to report the crimes of the RIC and every reason to refrain from doing so.

    ‘Looting and overtures and acts of indecency by Black and Tans’: the pursuit of justice for acts of sexual violence during Ireland’s War of Independence (1919–21) · 2021 · DOI

  • The emergence of the self-governing Irish Free State in 1922 did not immediately change this position and natural law was limited to a peripheral position during the drafting of the first Irish Constitution.

    Natural Law in Early Twentieth Century Ireland – <i>State (Ryan)</i> v <i>Lennon</i> and its Aftermath · 2021 · DOI

  • Applying thematic and content analysis to official government transcripts, legislative and statutory policy texts and interview data, the article discusses connections among the main points of comparison and suggests that these central differences within Northern Ireland’s and England’s policy-making processes may explain what has been conducive to Northern Ireland’s statutory comprehensive RSE policy development while comprehensive sex education remains controversial in England.

    Sex and relationships education: a comparison of variation in Northern Ireland’s and England’s policy-making processes · 2017 · DOI

  • In addition to the twin aims of re-establishing Wilshere's reputation as an architect of more than usual worth and revealing the notable qualities of some of his schools, this exploration of his career and buildings also points to other themes of the inter-war era which have not been fully explored elsewhere and would benefit from further research.

    R.S. Wilshere and his Modern Schools in Belfast: an Architecture of Individuality · 2013 · DOI

  • ALTHOUGH THE CHRONOLOGY of events in Britain in the four or so years following Athelstan’s victory at Brunanburh in 937 remains unclear and subject to some dispute, certain facts appear to have been universally accepted as established.

    ANLAF GUTHFRITHSON AT YORK: A NON-EXISTENT KINGSHIP? · 2013 · DOI

  • Working from a perspective examining the high politics which preceded moment, Clancy's new book, Peace Without Consensus, makes an effective argument showing the major role of external actors - namely US, UK, and Irish political advisors, elected officials, and civil servants - in Northern Ireland's power-sharing politics.

    Peace without Consensus: Power-Sharing Politics in Northern Ireland · 2012

  • In foregrounding the contribution of the INAAVDF to the radicalization of political life in Ireland between 1916 and 1918, the article argues that this understudied but important organization offers a useful way of charting popular responses to the Rising and its aftermath, as well as laying the foundations for a reinvigorated political and military campaign after 1917.

    THE IRISH NATIONAL AID ASSOCIATION AND THE RADICALIZATION OF PUBLIC OPINION IN IRELAND, 1916–1918 · 2012 · DOI

  • As of yet the economic crisis is unabated, and as welfare state changes typically occur in relatively slow motion ( Castles 2010 ), outcomes of the process remain uncertain.

    Economic Crisis and Welfare Retrenchment: Comparing Irish Policy Responses in the 1970s and 1980s with the Present · 2011 · DOI

  • The obstacles to further inter-development are in part institutional—the fact that joint seminars, conferences and forms of publication remain insufficient—and in part archival, because so many researchers, given the relative paucity of surviving Irish-based sources, have continued to work within the rigorously demarcated avenues laid down by the great nineteenth-century systematisers of the English public records.

    Martial Power and Elizabethan Political Culture: Military Men in England and Ireland, 1558-1594 · 2010 · DOI

  • Finally, it is acknowledged that in Ireland, as elsewhere, neo-liberal certitudes have been effectively dethroned by the economic recession and banking crisis of late 2008; whether these more straitened economic circumstances will provide a better fit for the ‘nanny state’ ideals of the public health perspective on alcohol remains to be seen.

    Obstacles to the Implementation of an Integrated National Alcohol Policy in Ireland: Nannies, Neo-Liberals and Joined-Up Government · 2009 · DOI

  • Other work, including some fine ethnography, remains unclear about whether the ritual data apply equally to Irish Travellers as they do to Romanies (Okely 1983), and some is of somewhat narrow scope·(Mends 1997).

    The Religion and Social Organisation of Irish Travellers on a London Caravan Site (Part I) · 2002 · DOI

  • But it is difficult, lacking knowledge as we do of the precise numbers of Irish and German voters who swung away from the Democrats, to feel that a final statement on the matter has been made, while those statements which have been made have not been finally convincing, even where based on statistical evidence.

    Did the Irish and German Voters Desert the Democrats in 1920? A Tentative Statistical Answer · 1972 · DOI

  • . In recent years sociologists of religion have tended to suggest that progress in socioreligious research will be by comparative studies of religious groups, and Catholic sociologists have emphasised analyses of discernible differences m patterns of behaviour and attitudes between Catholics of varying fervour and commitment. There is little scope for the former approach m the Republic of Ireland It is unlikely that such research will be undertaken m Northern Ireland, where there is still a great deal of religious conflict. There appears to be ample opportunity in Ireland for sociological studies of the implications and correlates of different degrees of religious fervour and commitment. Indeed, such studies would appear to be particularly important where uniform practice must surely cloak differences in attitude and opinion. The resulting precision and clearer definitions should help in the understanding of anomalies sometimes found m Ireland, and among Irish emigrants elsewhere It seems likely, too, that current stereotypes of the Irish Catholic would not survive empirical investigation. Limited research already completed suggests that very many ordinary Irish Catholics are articulate, educated and mtellectually committed to a mature apostolic faith. (25) There is evidence also that there are those who are ill-informed, those who are disinterested, and those who are alienated. (26) Further research is needed to provide an increasingly accurate, objective, systematic account of the insh Church today. It is particularly important in a country which is undergoing rapid social change, and where it would, therefore, be easy to rest inadvisedly on the laurels of the past, and to rely on past solutions and social patterns after they have ceased to be relevant in o changed situation. Irish sociologists are optimistic about the future development of socio-iallgious research. The difficulties of facilities and finance which currently inhibit research are, after all, less important than the expertise and opportunity which exist. Most encouraging of all is the fact that all investigators report enthusiastic interest and cooperation at all levels. Dr. Lewis writes: ’The first striking discovery was the wholehearted cooperation of the clergy in all nine parishes visited They showed a keen interest in sociological research as a means to helping them m their pastoral activity, and offered every possible assistance They showed great knowledge of their parishes and people; and, contrary to expectations, had no fear of possible revelations concerning their flock The acceptance of the study on the part of the people showed how wrong preconceptions can be. Almost all gladly accepted to be interviewed. (27) The experience of Dr. Newman, (28) J. Plainville (29) and the Department of Social Science, University College, Dublin, was similar. The Social Research Group of the Department of Social Science, University College, Dublin, has undertaken research mto community development m new housing areas, attitudes concerning education of working-class parents, 23 Limerick Rural Survey, I-V, Tipperary, 1960-1964. 24 J Newman, ’Pastoral problems in the rural environment’, Proceedings of the internatlonal meeting of Catholics on rural life, Rome, 1962, pp 242-249. partment of Social Science, University College, Dublin - See below. 25 Fachtna Lewis, op. cit. As yet unpublished reports of research carried out by the De- 26 Ibidem. 27 Op. cit., Summary, p. 2. 28 Op. cit., passim. 29 Op. cit., p. 38.

    Socio-Religious Research in Ireland · 1964 · DOI

  • The large suburban urban district, or borough, council of Dun Laoghaire has an unresolved dispute with Dublin county council over 432 NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW [October water supply payments that may wind up in the courts, inasmuch as the law agents of the two councils have rendered contradictory reports.

    Irish county managers · 1956 · DOI

  • It concludes by identifying how this can inform reproductive justice campaigns elsewhere and recognises the intersectional work that remains to be done.

    All we want is, free, safe, legal, local abortion access for everyone who needs it: An examination of the Northern Ireland decriminalisation of abortion campaign · 2024 · DOI

  • The Rhetorical Arts in Late Antique and Early Medieval Ireland is organized into an introduction, six body chapters, and a conclusion calling for further research, including a list of understudied Irish texts.

    The Rhetorical Arts in Late Antique and Early Medieval Ireland, by Brian James Stone · 2023 · DOI

  • Abstract The involvement of grassroots activist groups in the production of knowledge used to challenge or inform abortion policy remains underexplored.

    Unruly bodies (of knowledge): influencing Irish abortion policy through evidence-based abortion activism · 2023 · DOI

  • This article focuses on an underexplored aspect of the Catholic convent school experience, namely the kinds of socialisation and regulation of emotion maintained within the convent community.

    Emotional regulation and middle-class Irish education: a case study of nineteenth century Catholic convent schools · 2022 · DOI

  • Antrim, the site of Ireland’s last witch trial in 1711, offers new insight into the understudied area of modern Irish witchcraft.

    Witchcraft Belief, Representation and Memory in Modern Ireland · 2019 · DOI

  • Despite much good will, investment and initiatives much work remains to be done to generate the state of linguistic and cultural respect, understanding and tolerance that the Belfast Agreement envisaged.

    Home to a ghost: Ulster-Scots language and vernacular in Northern Irish culture since the Good Friday Agreement · 2018 · DOI

  • Probation practice, past and present, is under-researched in Ireland, with limited attention paid to the personal accounts of the people of probation such as administrators, probation officers, clients and rehabilitation workers.

    Hidden voices: Practitioner perspectives on the early histories of probation in Ireland · 2017 · DOI

  • Although engaging with conflict history is an important aspect of conflict resolution practice, it is not fully understood how to achieve this in these complex and emotive environments.

    Engaging with the Violent Past to Motivate and Direct Conflict Resolution Practice in Northern Ireland · 2017 · DOI

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41 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 4,013 Irish and British Studies papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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