Local Elections and Party Competition: 1897–1967

Abstract

MODERN social and institutional developments in Belfast are entangled with politics to an even greater extent than in other cities. It is to the political severance of the North from the rest of Ireland that Belfast owes its present role as an administrative and, in a modest sense, cultural centre. It is the political link with Britain that has provided financial aid for the post-war restructuring of the economy, and technological assistance for the ailing shipbuilding and aircraft industry. The British link has also provided a political and financial stimulus to the development of welfare services and housing (far more extensive than in the Republic) which as we have seen became one of the main preoccupations of the Council and its committees.