This project investigates how Ulster unionists cultivated international support and connection during the Troubles. Transnational history has only recently gained traction in the historiography of modern Ireland. Much theoretical groundwork for the application of transnationalism was laid only in the 2010s by scholars like Enda Delaney and Niall Whelehan, who criticised the field’s methodological solipsism while highlighting the transnational dynamics underlying such themes as nationalism and migration. This inspires the project to place the Troubles under a transnational perspective. For all the communal strife and sectarian violence, Northern Ireland during this period remained closely connected to the wider world through media coverage, flows of arms and funds, and an internationally-mediated peace process. A transnational scrutiny of the Troubles, therefore, has the potential to shed new light on our understanding of a transnational modern Ireland.
The focus on Ulster unionism addresses another historiographical gap. Associated with colonialism and sectarianism, unionism has long been monolithically portrayed as always parochial and rejectionist. Regarding external connections, it is frequently assumed to have been unwilling — and unable — to defend itself and seek support beyond Ulster. This perception contrasts sharply with the ready incorporation of Irish nationalism and republicanism into transnational histories, exemplified by a recent volume on the global resonance of the Easter Uprising. By comparison, Ulster unionism remains one of the most cut-off subjects within an already insular historiography. Few studies address transnational Ulster unionism during the Troubles. Notable exceptions, such as Andrew Wilson’s works on unionism in the United States, offered only broad surveys rather than an in-depth dissection of how unionists cultivated international support, namely the tactics of persuasion they might have employed in different cultural and political contexts. As a result, the transnational dimensions of Ulster unionism during the Troubles remain underexplored, reinforcing the enduring image of unionism as inward-looking and disconnected from wider transnational networks.
By analysing the rhetoric and tactics Ulster unionists used to cultivate a more benign international image, this research seeks to offer a more nuanced reading of unionism beyond the one-dimensional, and arguably over-simplistic image of parochial rejectionism, while situating modern Ireland more firmly in a transnational context. The study focuses primarily on the actions and rhetoric of unionist politicians, examining how they fashioned and legitimated their cause to external world through speeches, broadcast appearances, and foreign tours. Here, official records from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland provide key sources for this analysis. Meanwhile, the research considers developments at the grassroots level — namely the popular outreach of unionism and public reception thereof — by drawing on newspaper archives as well as historic pamphlets. One that might be particularly interesting to look at is Ulster: The Facts, a pamphlet circulated by unionists during their 1982 North America tour. Visual culture offers another possible perspective. Murals in Northern Ireland are public display of communal identity and political claims, which might function as an additional channel of unionist self-articulation to the outer world. Overall, a rich possibility of sources exists for this very much under-explored field. Preliminary research suggests that unionists were able to deploy quite adaptive rhetoric, drawing on Ulster-American connections as well as charges of communism and terrorism to appeal to foreign audiences in the postwar context. Therefore, this project hopes to show that unionists were more engaged with international opinion than their reputation suggests. In so doing, it aims both to challenge the enduring image of unionism as invariably insular and to foster a more transnational understanding of modern Irish history.