Abstract
This chapter explores the role of protest within the Protestant Unionist culture in response to political initiatives that are considered to be a threat to its status, position and identity. Beginning with a discussion of the 2012–13 flag protests, the chapter seeks to contextualise them within the wider contemporary international cycle of protests, including those of the Arab Spring and Occupy movements. It then traces the specific style and form of protests within Northern Ireland from the opposition to the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the Ulster Workers Council strike in the 1970s and the mobilisation against the Anglo-Irish Agreement in the 1980s. It concludes that while the insistence on no change has remained consistent, the efficacy of oppositional protests has become less effective as a means of popular resistance.
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Jarman, N. (2019). A Bitter Peace: Flag Protests, the Politics of No and Culture Wars. In: Armstrong, C.I., Herbert, D., Mustad, J.E. (eds) The Legacy of the Good Friday Agreement. Palgrave Studies in Compromise after Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91232-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91232-5_7
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