17 Richard Storry, A history of modern Japan (London, 1982).
18 Brian Tierney, The idea of natural rights (New York, 1997); F.A.M. von Geusau, Neither justice nor order: reflections on the state of the law of nations (Tilburg, 2014), chapter 4.
19 Norman Davies, Europe: a history (Oxford, 1996); F.A.M. von Geusau, Cultural diplomacy: waging war by other means? (Tilburg, 2009).
20 Zara Steiner, ‘On writing international history’, International affairs, vol. 73 no. 3: globalisation and international relations (Jul. 1997), 531–46.
21 Garret FitzGerald, Reflections on the Irish state (Dublin, 2003), ix.
22 John Cooney, Tony McGarry, Ireland and Europe in times of world change: Humbert International School chronicle and directory 1987–2002 (Ballina, 2002).
23 B.A. McKenzie, ‘The European Youth Campaign in Ireland: neutrality, Americanisation and the cold war 1950 to 1959’, Diplomatic history, vol. 40 no. 3 (2016), 421–44.
24 Frans Alting von Geusau, European unification into the twenty-first century (Tilburg, 2012); International organization: transnational relations and world politics, vol. 25 no. 3 (summer 1971).
25 Mark Leonard, J. Pisani-Ferry, E. Ribokova, J. Sharipo, G. Wolff, ‘Security Europe’s economic sovereignty’, Survival, vol. 61 no. 5 (2019), 75–98.
26 M. Kennedy, D. McMahon (eds) Obligations and responsibilities: Ireland and the United Nations (Dublin, 2005).
27 International organization: the global partnership: international agencies and economic development, vol. 22 no.1 (winter 1968); International organization: international institutions and environmental crisis, vol. 26 no. 2 (spring 1972); Ian Clark, Globalization and international relations theory (Oxford, 1999); Paul Collier, Wars, guns and votes: democracy in dangerous places (London, 2005).
1
Ireland’s Place in World History:
From the Fianna to the First World War
If ancient Greece and Rome were the cradle of European civilisation, for much of history Ireland existed independently from this idea of civilisation. German scholars of the Celtic west of Europe have suggested that the Irish were ‘the most important and influential of the Celtic peoples’, but Celtic culture was driven forcibly from the European continent by the Roman Empire.1 The Irish produced one of the earliest forms of written language and received Christianity early, but rather than diocesan churches they promoted monastic orders whose illuminated manuscripts were noteworthy for developing a uniquely Celtic artistic imagery. Irish monks also served as missionaries abroad, including in central Europe. Nevertheless, a defining trait of Irish society was its ambivalent attitude to the sea. Although the Irish were self-consciously islanders, they were not a great seafaring people and most always chose to live inland. Irish explorations of the Atlantic and the North Sea were not unknown, but were limited because of the harshness of the climate on the Atlantic coastline. Here circular stone forts had existed since the earliest times, but they were seemingly designed to guard against attacks by land rather than invasions by sea.2
Despite a broadly similar culture across the island, scholars have often considered that a greater degree of political unity existed between Ulster, in the north of Ireland, and Scotland than between various parts of the island of Ireland itself.3 Before and after the arrival of Christianity, northern Irish kings resided near the northeast coast of Ireland, which is only a short distance from the west coast of Scotland.4 Law tracts in the Irish language (Gaeilge) show that their yearly dues, unlike that of all other Irish kingdoms, included ships.5 Both medieval Irish wonder voyage literature and the earliest Irish heroic sagas of the Fianna emanated from this region. Irish voyage literature involved the discovery of fantasy islands with magical qualities. Although similar metaphors existed in ancient Greek literatures, Irish belief systems were noticeably different. Befitting the status of the Irish as northern Europeans, a spiritual notion of otherworldly ghosts rather than a Mediterranean belief in underworld demons was paramount.6 Meanwhile, the geopolitics of this literature was rooted in northern Irish familiarity with the numerous islands off the western coast of Scotland: ‘Dáil Éireann’, the title of the modern Irish parliamentary assembly, is itself a name derived from ancient Irish kingdoms, including Ulster kingdoms that encompassed western Scottish isles.7 From the sixth until the sixteenth century, a northern O’Neill dynasty, with roots in the west of Ireland, frequently claimed to be the legitimate rulers of the whole of Ireland. The fact that the Christian church established its ecclesiastical capital (Armagh) within the O’Neill kingdom probably bolstered their purely secular claim to rule, but it was rarely, if ever, recognised.8
The western Scottish isles were considered to be a homogenous Kingdom of the Isles during the short-lived North Sea Empire of King Cnut, an eleventh-century Danish king who also conquered England and whose daughter married the Holy Roman Emperor. Cnut’s equating secular rulers’ powerlessness before God with their inability to command the seas may have reflected the influence of an Irish Christian culture in which sea voyages were often considered to serve ‘a penitential function’.9 Despite centuries of raids by sea, Scandinavian culture never became a dominant force in Ireland. On the east coast, the future capital of Dublin minted coinage for Cnut and became a trading centre with a focus on Wales and northern England. In the early eleventh century, forces led by Brian Bóruma (Boru), a southern Irish king who hoped to receive recognition as king of all Ireland, defeated Danish-backed forces in this region, but Irish society remained very poorly equipped to deal with invasions by sea.10 As a result, native Irish kings were completely unable to deal with a Norman invasion by sea in the late twelfth century, which also introduced to Ireland the practice of feudalism. This was a Latin legal system under which land was assigned to individuals purely on the basis of royal decrees. For four centuries, this new, centralised legal and political order would coexist alongside a native Irish society characterised by local dynastic kingdoms.
The Normans created new, fortified town walls and castles to subjugate local populations while also encouraging native Irish chieftains to act as mercenaries in Anglo-Scottish wars.11 Through such military expeditions, the Irish learnt new methods of horsemanship, archery and shipbuilding, while fortified stone dwellings, akin to tower homes rather than castles, became