Foreword

Dear Reader,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Volume XXXV of the Social and Political Review. 35 years ago this journal was established to provide space for undergraduate students to engage with the social and political issues and contribute to the fields of Sociology and Political Science. It is an honour to add to this long-standing line of publications, with this latest volume. We hope you are inspired, captivated, and left curious by our journals’ contributors.

There is a wide reaching selection of papers in this year’s volume, which continues to demonstrate the value of the publication of undergraduate work. It contributes to the literature on conflict studies through Dylan Jones’ provision of a new framework of aberrant insurgent violence against civilians. Additionally, Prachi Tailor investigates peace negotiations in Kashmir and Conall Dullaghan’s paper looks at post-civil conflict ‘collective memory’ construction in Sri Lanka. In sociological contributions, Shane Burke interrogates the failure of May 1968 through social movement theories and Aengus Gilligan offers an analysis of the classlessness narrative of Ireland through the lens of Bourdieu. Finally, we turn to interdisciplinary analysis, with Eva Hendly’s historico-political exploration of the post-independence formation of the Irish identity in relation to sexual purity and Giorgia Carli’s political philosophy paper, which asks whether culturally pluralistic societies can maintain a friendship between a state and its citizens.

A year of hard work, enthusiasm and passion brought this journal to life. I must extend my absolute gratitude to this year’s Board; to Eva, Prachi, Nazar, Ashling, Shane, Lara, and Jude, for their dedication, patience, and expertise in editing; to Reina and Róisín, for their detailed and accurate copyediting; to Alannah, for her management and for securing funding for the journal; to Diana, for the beautiful journal layout, cover art, the design of our new website, and her work on publicity; and to Shurooq, for her organisation of events throughout the year, including the journal launch. Without you, this publication would not exist. Thank you also to the Sociology and Political Science departments, as well as TASC, Trinity Trust, Trinity Publications, and Grehan’s printers for their continued support of the journal.

This year, we moved to change our website provider in line with divestment principles, and, in February this year, we launched our new website with a paper reading event. We also worked to return the launch of the journal to the Graduates Memorial Building Chamber. This was a step necessary due to the growth of interest in the publication, as demonstrated by our receipt of an unprecedented 70 high-quality submissions to the journal, the attendance at our annual writing workshop, and our engagement with students at the two drop-in sessions we ran in the Trinity Arts Block. We also formalised our relationship with the Political Science and Sociology department, ensuring clear and continued engagement between the journal and the department points of contact, Richard Layte and Constantine Boussalis. The fervent work of the Board this year has ensured the growth and flourishing of the journal beyond this year.

It has been an honour to lead the 35th Volume of the SPR and to see this publication come to fruition.

It has been a highlight of my university experience working on three SPR volumes and this one has been the cherry on top. I hope you enjoy it and take something from this most recent iteration, I certainly did.

Is mise le meas,

Tara Dempsey

Editor-in-Chief