Blood & Belonging - Ulster's Protestants and British Nationalism

Introduction

Nationalism is a modern ideology that tries to explain the individual's devotion to the nation-state by neglecting other interests. It has taken many different shapes in various geographies, cultures, histories, and political systems. Even in a location, nationalism has transformed from one form to another throughout history (Bloomfield, 209). In this paper, we are going to discuss the nationalism expressed by Loyalist in Northern Ireland, further we will also discuss why loyalist are called British than English and how loyalist have complicated the concept of nationalism.

After watching Blood and Belonging we have identified that loyalist of Northern Ireland wants Northern Ireland to be part of United Kingdom. Loyalists are type of unionists in Northern Ireland who feels powerful in support of political union between northern Ireland and Great Britain. There are many people willing to support violence use to keep the protestant majority province which under British rule is also called as Ulster (McGarry, 533). The conflict in Northern Ireland began in the mid-1960s by a movement for civil rights against the sectarian segregation suffered by the Catholic minority. The contrast between Republicans and nationalists (mostly Catholic) on the one hand, loyalists and unionists (mostly Protestants) on the other hand on the future of Northern Ireland leads to a rise in violence that lasted for thirty years.

Loyalists are more 'British than the British means that the British people and their families living in Northern Ireland with catholic background are more biased. If these backgrounds and religions are to be removed from equation than the majority of British people will not genuinely care about loyalists or Unionists, they do not show any sort of loyalty to the British government (Bruce, 311). The fate of Northern Ireland is dependent on the British Government not the ...