Are Northern Irish proud to be British?

It turns out that I wrote a simple answer myself. I just saw a more detailed introduction and posted it. I hope the landlord can adopt my answer, haha! )

According to the Irish government law, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland were born at the same time in 1920. Southern Ireland was immediately renamed the Irish Free State. According to the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 192 1, after Ireland's independence, Northern Ireland can decide whether to join Ireland. Northern Ireland decided to stay in Britain. Most Irish (unionists) want to stay in Britain, but an important minority (nationalists) want to join Ireland. From 1960 s to 1990 s, the struggle between the two factions was armed. 1972, Northern Ireland's autonomy was cancelled. From 65438 to the mid-1990s, the two main semi-military organizations reached an unreliable ceasefire.

1972 After the abolition of the Northern Ireland Parliament, there was no official flag in Northern Ireland. The United Party generally uses the British flag or the "red flag" of Northern Ireland in the past, while nationalists generally use the Irish flag. People from both factions sometimes use the flags of their political parties or religions. Some non-neutral organizations use St. Patrick's flag as their flag, but some ultra-nationalists think it is also a royalist flag, so there is no recognized flag in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland does not have its own national anthem.

Most northern Irish belong to two different factions: the unification faction or the national faction. External media often distinguish these two factions by their main religious beliefs. Most trade union members are Protestants and most ethnic groups are Catholics. But not all Catholics support nationalism, and not all Protestants support unification. Similar to other parts of Europe, the number of Christians in Northern Ireland has plummeted in recent decades, but this has not reduced the differences between the two factions.

1920 When Northern Ireland was founded, its geographical position made the United factions there in the majority. The Unionists were worried that their position would be threatened if Northern Ireland joined Ireland, so they opposed joining Ireland, but since then, the proportion of Catholics has increased, while the proportion of Protestants has decreased.

Most Catholics support merging with Ireland, but opinion polls show that many people also support staying in Britain, although they continue to support ethnic political parties. In the past 15 years, this minority has been reduced to 20%. Protestants who support the merger with Ireland are about 3 to 5%, but the number has not changed much. There are also many people, especially Catholics, who are not very clear about the future status of Northern Ireland.

Although the election in Northern Ireland is often regarded as a poll on the status of Northern Ireland in news reports, this view oversimplifies the local situation. Voters often consider improving their social status through elections, or enhancing the strength of their associations.

The political parties in Northern Ireland can be divided into two layers: the national political parties include the Social Democratic Labor Party (SDLP), Sinn Fein and other small parties, and the joint political parties include the Northern Ireland United Party (UUP), democratic unionist party and other small parties.

Sinn Fein is theoretically an extreme socialist revolutionary party. Its goal is to establish the Socialist Republic of Ireland, which is related to the Irish Peace Army (IRA). Traditionally, its voters mainly come from the Catholic working class in cities and some rural areas. Since the cease-fire of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the mid-Kloc-0/1990s, its influence has expanded a lot, and it has gained many new supporters from the traditional SDLP voters. His experience in participating in the government made him lose some sharp corners of extreme revolution. In the European Parliament, it is generally associated with the European Left/Nordic Green Left United Front, but it is not a member of the Front.

SDLP is nominally a standard social democratic party, and it is a member of the European Socialist Party and the Socialist International. However, the political parties in Northern Ireland are generally not classified by social class and economic class, so its voters are multi-level, and it also has a middle class voter. SDLP supported the Irish merger, but opposed the use of force. In the past ten years, SDLP has lost many supporters. At present, there are nationalist factions in the party, and they are more inclined to the struggle between Sinn Fein Party and those who give up nationalism.

There is a similar trend among federalists. In the past, the more extreme DUP prevailed in the more traditional UUP. UUP is a super-class mass political party, which was the ruling party in Northern Ireland from its establishment to 1972. Since the establishment of DUP in1970s, its main supporters are the middle class. UUP members in the European Parliament belong to the European People's Party.

DUP members are very diverse, ranging from devout supporters in rural areas to workers without religious beliefs in cities. On abortion, death penalty, European Union, women's rights and other issues, he is right-wing, and seems to be more enlightened on gay rights. DUP's politics usually tend to help its workers and rural voters, such as free rides for the elderly and EU aid to agriculture. DUP has gained a lot of support in recent years, and it is the only big party that opposes Friday's peace agreement. In the European Parliament, its members do not belong to any group, but they are close to a democratic and pluralistic Europe.

Generally speaking, the more extreme Sinn Fein Party and DUP developed rapidly after the Northern Ireland peace process began. However, some optimists believe that the issue of Northern Ireland's independence will become less and less important in the EU.