Is Northern Ireland a failed state?

https://www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/is-northern-ireland-a-failed-state

22 27 3 years ago

rocketbop• 3 years ago

Given the social transformation in NI across the last twenty years compared to the previous generation it seems more to me like a state going in the right direction. It’s a more cohesive state now than in the 60s 70s or 80s, and even if progress since the peace agreements in the 90s has been slow and uneven it seems the opposite of failed state.

alephnerd2• 3 years ago

To use the British term, what a load of bollocks.

Are there constant rolling blackouts? Is there a currency crisis? Are banks collapsing? Is there a state of anarchy that lead to the deployment of the Military?

NI was much closer to a failed state during the hottest part of the Troubles in the 70s. NI in 2023 is nowhere near as bad.

There is so much First World "Woe is I" on HN. It's so damn ridiculous. Go join the Peace Corp if you want to see a semi-failed state (edit: not really. They don't deploy in unstable area, but absolutely do if you want to teach secondary math and science)

dndvr• 3 years ago

Your use of the phrase 'to use the British term' implying you think that's clever and relevant (and not at all contentious) is the first indicator you don't know what you are talking about.

EliRivers• 3 years ago

It would seem to indicate that he understands that there's a significant British element to Northern Ireland's history.

BTinfinity• 3 years ago

They weren't implying anything other than that the phrase may be less common outside of Great Britain

nimbius• 3 years ago

Are there constant rolling blackouts

NI could face blackouts by 2024 due to coal plant shutdowns. new gas plants arent scheduled until 2026.

Is there a currency crisis

the pound recently dipped under the dollar and has seen rampant instability due in part to the mismanagement and inception of brexit.

Are banks collapsing

not yet. solvency is to a great extent maintained by london at present however brexit is currently ushering a slow-rolling disaster. jobs and investment are declining at such a rate that the UK had to manufacture a fresh fruit crisis to divert attention from the transit trade sector which by all indication had collapsed.

Is there a state of anarchy that lead to the deployment of the Military

id hate to sound like a dead horse, but EU membership legislation largely kept the peace after the troubles. no real plan was in place to assure it didnt slide back into a sectarian nightmare after the collapse of EU membership, and whatever is being endorsed currently is tentative at best and approved without a lot of thought.

amluto4• 3 years ago

the pound recently dipped under the dollar and has seen rampant instability due in part to the mismanagement and inception of brexit.

This is not rampant instability in my book:

https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=USD&view=5Y

Try this on for size:

https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=ARS&to=USD&view=10Y

ploppyploppy• 3 years ago

The EUR is below parity with the Dollar. Heaps worse.

toyg3• 3 years ago

It's more like a colonial state in transition, where the inevitable future is slowly getting accepted and processed. A bit like Hong Kong a decade ago, while under the "two systems" hack that was never going to hold.

NI will be fully relinquished to Ireland before the end of the century.

closewith2• 3 years ago

End of the decade, hopefully.

anotherhue• 3 years ago

Star Trek reckoned next year (famously censored) https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Irish_Unification_of_20...

toyg3• 3 years ago

I think they first need to shed a few more people from the generations that saw the Troubles, so that old grudges stop being relevant and it becomes more of an administrative issue than a religious/sectarian one. Ireland shedding a bit of religious baggage, as they are doing, should also help in parallel.

taylodl• 3 years ago

As someone from the outside and looking in it appears they've transitioned from a state having severe problems to one having problems more typical of a colonial state in transition, as you say.

beardyw• 3 years ago

Betteridge's law of headlines - again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...

solaris152000• 3 years ago

It's not a state. It's a 'statelet'.

rendall• 3 years ago

Goodness gracious. HN is going for maximum contention these days, I see.

Is Northern Ireland a failed state?

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