Risking peace in the ‘war against the poor’? Social exclusion and the legacies of the Northern Ireland conflict

Abstract

Discourses around poverty, dependency and austerity take a particular form when it comes to Northern Ireland which is seen as ripe for economic 'rebalancing' and public sector reduction. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 is pivotal in that it provides the muscle for disciplining claimants for a low-waged, flexible labour market. But the Northern Ireland Assembly has not passed the Act or agreed a budget and the return of Direct Rule beckons as a result. The article sheds light on the stand-off over the Welfare Reform Act using data from the 2012 PSE Survey. It demonstrates that the impact of violent conflict is imprinted on the population in terms of high rates of deprivation, poor physical and mental health, and significant differences between those experiencing little or no conflict, and those with 'high' experience. In ignoring these legacies of the conflict, the Westminster government is risking peace in its 'war against the poor'.

From Titanic to Game of Thrones: Promoting Belfast as a Global Media Capital

“…Researchers have documented a historically segregated working-class formation between Catholics and Protestants who had differential access to jobs and recognized such divided working-class culture as a major trigger of the civil conflict (Aunger, 1975; Smith and Chambers, 1991). Violence along with the legacies of trauma and economic deprivation (Tomlinson, 2016) are often associated with working-class communities in Northern Ireland. Anthropologist Allen Feldman (1991) explains, ‘political warfare in the urban sectors of Northern Ireland can be depicted as a Gramscian war of positions between fractions of the “Catholic” and “Protestant” working class and between these fractions and the state’, instigated by deindustrialization and ‘political reclamation of the wasteland of industrial culture’ (p. 5).…”

From the ‘Long War’ to the ‘Long Peace’: An introduction to the special edition

“…In view of the high levels of dependency on disability allowance in particular in Northern Ireland, it was widely anticipated that the region would be the one most severely affected by era of ‘welfare reform’ (Beatty & Fothergill 2013). Issues of social security are among those devolved to the Stormont assembly and hence there was the prospect at least that the six counties might be spared the introduction of the new draconian regime (Tomlinson 2016: 105). The Westminster government made it clear from the outset, however, that the Welfare Reform Act was to operate throughout the entire United Kingdom and that it was prepared to use financial sanctions to ensure that outcome.…”

“…As this latest impasse between the coalition partners showed little sign of resolution, the Westminster authorities began to act on their threats of financial sanctions. In the fiscal year 2014–2015, for instance, the British government reduced the block grant to Northern Ireland by some £87 million (Tomlinson 2016: 107). With the prospect of even greater reductions in the near future, the republicans in government in Belfast would begin to revise their previously implacable opposition to ‘welfare reform’.…”

Northern Ireland’s elusive peace dividend: Neoliberalism, austerity and the politics of class

“…One recent estimate suggests that 15% of the population in the six counties are dealing with some form of psychological trauma arising out of the Troubles (Fenton 2018: 144). The relatively high incidence of such conditions in Northern Ireland is reflected in the fact that one in every four of those registered as disabled are deemed to suffer from mental illness (Tomlinson 2016: 117).…”

“…And that is certainly the role in which republicans have been keen to cast themselves. The routine claims of Sinn Féin to be resolute opponents of austerity either side of the Irish border have been readily endorsed by commentators sympathetic to the republican project (O’Leary 2018: 228; Tomlinson 2016: 105). If we trace the narrative of how ‘welfare reform’ came to Northern Ireland, however, a rather more complicated, and less flattering, picture of how the party conducted itself while in office begins to emerge.…”