《《IRELAND AND THE GEOPOLITICS》.pdf

IRELAND AND THE GEOPOLITICS OF ANGLO-IRISH RELATIONS Geoffrey Sloan The nature of Anglo-Irish relations has been the source of both intellectual debate and lethal activity throughout the twentieth and the early part of the twenty- first centuries. It can be suggested that one way of characterizing this relationship is to say that it is close but tortuous. The closeness is a product of geographical configuration and proximity. Overlaid on this has been a kaleidoscope of political and strategic relationships which have included irregular warfare, secession, neutrality and participation in the European community. It is the confluence of these relationships juxtaposed within the geographical parameters that have often provided the source of conflict and cooperation in Anglo-Irish relations. This raises the question as to what a geopolitical analysis and evaluation can contribute to our understanding of this relationship. This question can be answered by the assertion that the ideas of one of the most prominent geopolitical thinkers of the twentieth century, Sir Halford Mackinder (1861–1947), provides a way, through a number of conceptual inventions, of breaking down this relationship into its constituent parts and ensuring that the relative hierarchy of key relationships are clear. Before examining Mackinder’s geopolitical concepts it is important to outline what could be described, without any exaggeration, as a polymath career. It covered the fields of higher education, service education, diplomacy, politics, exploration and public service.1 It included serving as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the Camlachie Division of Glasgow (1910–22), Chairman of the Imperial Shipping Committee (1920–39), British High Commissioner to South Russia (1919–20), the creation of the University of Reading from 1892, Director of the London School of Ec