U. 58: Political, Social, and Economic Development in the UK and the Republic of Ireland Since 1945. Their Presence in the European Community. Literary Panorama.

2. Background. Post-war Britain. What were the main concerns?

• Housing

• Healthcare

• Full employment

• Industrial reconstruction

Although Britain won the war, it weakened its economy and its position as a global leader. At the time, the two biggest superpowers were US vs Soviet Union.

2. Background. Post-war Britain. What did the Labour government aim to tackle and through what?

• 1945 Labour government → introduced a programme based on the Beveridge Report of 1942 to tackle the 5 giants:

  • Want (poverty)

  • Disease

  • Ignorance (poor education)

  • Squalor (poor living conditions)

  • Idleness (unemployment)

• This became the FOUNDATION OF THE WELFARE STATE.

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.1. The 1950s. 3.1.1. The welfare state.

• Reforms introduced at the end of WWII (first introduced by Labourers, then maintained by Conservatives):

  • The Education Act (1944) → secondary education for all

  • NHS (1946) → access to free medical treatment

  • National Insurance Act (1946)

  • National Assistance Act (1948) → alongside the former, intended to provide financial aid to unemployed and vulnerable groups.

****Churchill, Eden, Macmillan and Douglas-Home (1951–1964) accepted the welfare state

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.1. The 1950s. 3.1.2. The new international order (1950s-1960s)

• Retreat from British Empire and independence of colonies (some joined the Commonwealth of Nations)

• Suez Crisis (1956) → a turning point which demonstrated Britain’s reduced influence.

• As a founding member of NATO, developed nuclear deterrents with the US during the Cold War

• POST WAR BABY-BOOM

• The Marshall Plan → helped the country recover, though ratioing continued until 1954.

• The Arrival of the Empire Windrush → brought workforce from the Caribbeans.

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.2. The 1960s. 3.2.1. European Integration.

• Churchill called for a United States of Europe, but Europe later became fragmented in the East and West

• 1957 Britan decides NOT to join EEC believing it should preserve its national sovereignty.

  • HOWEVER…. applied again in 1963 and 1967 but Charles de Gaulle vetoed it.

  • Finally joined after Charles de Gaulle left office, in 1973

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.2. The 1960s. 3.2.2. Youthful Britain.

• Pop/Rock music, The Beatles, the HIPPIE MOVEMENT…

• Fashion (Mary Quant popularised the miniskirt, Twiggy…)

• More liberal attitude toward morality, which led to:

  • Abolition of the Death Penalty Act (1965)

  • S3xual Offences Act (1967)

  • Abortion Act (1967)

  • Divorce Reform Act (1969)

• More immigration= a more diverse Britain

  • Race Relations Act (1965; 1968) → reduced public discrimination

• Scotland and Wales → Increased support for Nationalist movement

• Northern Ireland → The Troubles begin.

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.3. The 1970s

• Conservatives went back to power with Edward Heath (1970):

  • Previously, serious economic problems such as high inflation and rising unemployment

  • 1973 Oil Crisis worsened the former

  • Winter of Discontent (1978-1979) → strikes which led to the defeat of the Labour government (James Callaghan was in office since 1973, succeeding Edward Heath) !!!!!!!

  • Discovery of oil in the North Sea gave the government more revenue.

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.3. The 1970s. Technology and consumers?

• The 1970s was a year of significant technological, pharmaceutical, and medical contributions. (Alan Turing’s legacy paved the way). The Concorde.

• Consumer? → their habits changed: frequency of refrigerators, supermarkets and fast food

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.4. The 1980s

• Margaret Thatcher (The Iron Lady) wins the 1979 election. Remarkable for:

  • Her policies of free market, privatisation (British Airways or British Gas), deregulation, and famously, how she reduced trade union power (THATCHERISM)

  • 1984-1985 miners’ strike

  • Falkland Islands war with Argentina (improved her support)

  • Key issue = unemployment

• Thatcher’s economy:

  • Reduced funds to healthcare and education

  • Reduced inflation and made Britain the recipient of foreign investment.

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.4. The 1990s. John Major (1990)

• John Major was elected 1990 (Conservative). Debated the Europe question:

  • Debate over Britain’s relationship with EU intensified (which was created after the Maastricht Treaty

  • Britain negotiated opt-outs such as keeping the pound sterling.

  • Channel Tunnel (1994) connected France and Britain.

3. POLITICAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 3.4. The 1990s. Tony Blair (1997) and his New Labour.

• Blair combined market economies with public investment in healthcare and education.

4. ÉRIE: POLITICAL & SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 4.1. The Republic of Ireland. WWII and the 1937 Constitution

• WWII:

  • Ireland remained neutral, but WWII (also referred to as ‘The Emergency’), left Ireland with a shortage crisis and economic stagnation.

• 1937 Constitution:

  • The Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann)

  • Ended all links with Commonwealth of Nations.

  • The Ireland Act (British Parliament, 1949) → “Ireland has left, but Northern Ireland is ours”, basically.

4. ÉRIE: POLITICAL & SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 4.1. The Republic of Ireland. Entry to the UN and EEC. 1950s- 1960s.

• Ireland was a member of the UN since 1955

• A member of the EEC since1973

• 1950s-1960s. →

  • Government abandons protectionist policies in favour of free trade

  • Foreign investment is encouraged, which modernised Irish economy.

4. ÉRIE: POLITICAL & SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 4.1. The Republic of Ireland. Entry to the UN and EEC. 1980s-1990s.

• 1980s recession increased…

  • Unemployment

  • Emigration

  • Referendums

  • Rejected to legalise abortion and divorce.

• The 1990s:

  • Mary Robinson was elected the 1st female PM.

  • Ireland grows rapidly and, in 1999, it joins the EURO.

  • 1999 was regarded as a period of significant economic expansion.

4. ÉRIE: POLITICAL & SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 4.2. Northern Ireland. The Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921)

• The Act partitioned Ireland in 2.

• The Treaty ended the Irish War of Independence and established the southern region as independent dominion.

• Protestants (Unionists) remain in the UK; Catholics (Nationalists) remain in Ireland.

4. ÉRIE: POLITICAL & SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 4.2. Northern Ireland. The IRA and Bloody Sunday.

• IRA:

  • 1956, bombing attacks until 1962 mainly targeting British infrastructures. Unsuccessful.

  • 1960s → Catholic minority (which faced discrimination) organised civil rights movement for equal treatment and housing..

  • 1969→ Britain deploys troops in Northern Ireland due to frictions with Catholic minorities, but the troops seemed to side with Protestants, thereby eroding the relationship.

• Bloody Sunday (30 Jan 1972):

  • British soldiers shoot unarmed civil rights marchers, leaving 14 dead.

  • Support of IRA increases: Response? Direct rule from London is introduced to contain it (meaning that NI was not governed by its own local government).

4. ÉRIE: POLITICAL & SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 4.2. Northern Ireland. The Troubles. Anglo-Irish Agreement, Good Friday Agreement and Decommissioning of weapons.

• The Troubles:

  • Involves the Provisional IRA vs loyal (British) paramilitary group.

  • Bombings and attacks → to reach a united Ireland.

  • Despite the violence, both parties ended ok.

• 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement:

  • Gave the Irish government a consultative role in NI’s affairs, while confirming that constitutional change could only occur with NI’s majority consent.

• 1995. IRA ceasefire after contact with John Major’s government. THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT.

• 2001: IRA decommissions its weapons.

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.1. English poetry. 5.1.1. The Movement.

• It reacted against Modernism and sought to restore technical craftsmanship among many things.

• Key members include Kingsley Amis and Donald Davie, Elizabeth Jennings and… Philip Larkin:

  • Born Coventry and studied at Oxford

  • Began his career working at the University of Hull as a librarian.

  • Main collections include: The North Ship, The Less Deceived or High Windows.

  • Themes explored: loneliness, ageing, death, disappearance of traditional England. using more poetic and traditional forms + everyday language.

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.1. English poetry. 5.1.2. Pop Poetry

• Closely connected to popular 60s music.

• Experiments new forms and performance

• Key work: Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain.

• Key poet: George Macbeth (1932-1992): A Form of Words, Broken Places (his poetry was experimental).

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.1. English poetry. 5.1.3. The Martian Poeta (70s)

• Predominantly Craig Raine and Christopher Reid.

• Described ordinary objects in humorous, unfamiliar ways.

• Resorted to Denaturalisation.

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.1. English poetry. 5.1.4. Irish Poetry

• Thomas Kinsella (1928-2021) → Poems, Nightwalker

• Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) → Nobel Prize, 1995. Death of a Naturalist.

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.2. Drama. 5.2.1. English Drama

• Kitchen-sink Drama → John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey.

• Theatre of the Absurd → Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Endgame.

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.2. Drama. 5.2.2. Irish Drama

• Sean O’Casey → The Shadow of a Gunman and Juno and the Paycock.

• Brian Friel’s themes:

  • Memory

  • Language

  • Irish identity

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.3. Narrative. 5.3.1. George Orwell (1903-1950)

• 1984

• Animal Farm

• Homage to Catalonia.

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.3. Narrative. 5.3.2. Graham Greene (1904-1991)

• On:

  • Political conflict

  • Espionage

  • Moral dilemmas

• Explored:

  • The relationship between faith and human weakness

• Key:

  • The Heart of the Matter

  • The Honorary Consul

5. LITERARY PANORAMA 5.3. Narrative. 5.3.3. William Godwin (1911-1993)

• Was a schoolteacher and worked for the Royal Army

• Lord of the Flies (1954)

• Nobel Prize of Literature, 1983.

Other key writers of this period include: Doris Lessing and Kazuo Ishiguro.