John Swift
Articles by John Swift
2021
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Politics
Taming the Past
The terms ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ are not mutually exclusive, in the present or in the past.
2020
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Irish History
The Long Road to Peace
On whether strategic thinking in peace negotiations should outweigh moral considerations, Bertie Ahern’s mind was clear. Isolating the extremes and supporting the moderates would not…
2019
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World History
People Power
Does political democracy have a value in the absence of economic democracy? Should social distinctions be maintained? Ancient Athens largely practised a mixed system, with…
2018
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Irish History
Endgame
In the long Home Rule crisis of the second decade of the twentieth century, John Redmond, the leader of constitutional nationalism, counted too much on…
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World History
Revolution for Export
A major new study explores the relationship between the American and French revolutions and goes on to consider how events in the Thirteen States impacted…
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World Politics
Defending Freedom
Contemporary critics of the human rights tradition argue either that it is a racket for the benefit of lawyers or that it is based on…
2017
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World Politics
Sharing the Island
In the difficult and protracted Cypriot peace talks both sides need to take a cooler and more imaginative look at what they have chosen to…
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World History
Misery and Improvement
The European Enlightenment made its mark in Ireland as well as elsewhere. In the middle decades of the eighteenth century there was optimism about improvement…
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Irish Art / Culture
The Critic as Colleague
The exemplary career of Irish broadcaster Andy O’Mahony illustrates the role that can be played by the critic in the public sphere. Standing beside the…
2016
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Irish History
The Commemoration Trap
All political parties cannibalise the past selectively for facts and arguments deemed useful to safeguarding and advancing their future fortunes. This is normal and to…
2015
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World Politics
The Others
Edward Said can be called the father of postcolonial studies, but it could be argued that his political commentaries were as important as his theories…
2014
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Irish History
Making the Link, Breaking the Link
The common religious outlook of the English and Scots, albeit favouring different forms of Protestantism, produced conditions that were more favourable to political union than…
2013
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World Literature
In Other Men’s Homes
For all the mystique and mystification, imperialism, as Orwell recognised, is essentially a money-making racket, while the kernel of racism resides in the pretence that…
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Irish Politics
Debating the Nation
An anthology of the most important Dáil debates of the last sixty years covers vital economic matters, Northern Ireland and the nation’s ongoing difficulties with…
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The Barbarians Strike
The so-called Night of the Broken Glass, which the Hitler government represented as a spontaneous irruption of anger, was a cynical and carefully choreographed attack…
2012
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World Politics
FIGHTING CORRUPTION
Developed Western states have a multitude of interests in Africa and the Middle East and balancing human rights concerns with other economic, ecological and political…
Blog Posts by John Swift
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Taming the Past
April 22, 2021