Thomas Hennessey

Based in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Education

After completing his doctorate Thomas Hennessey was a Junior Research Fellow, at the Institute of Irish Studies, at Queen’s; a Research Officer at the Centre for the Study of Conflict, the University of Ulster; a Research Assistant at the think tank Democratic Dialogue; and a Research Fellow at the School of Politics, at Queen’s. Thomas joined the History team at Canterbury Christ Church that same year.

Level 4

Introduction to Cotemporary History

Level 5

Land of Hope and Glory?
Defence of the Realm: the British Secret State since 1868

Level 6

Edge of the Union: the Irish & Ulster Questions since 1886
Nations and States: Political Violence in Ireland

Major Research Grants 2012-2014

Leverhulme Trust £,88,296 proposal to entitled: A Membership Survey of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland
A Theoretical and Empirical Assessment of the Membership, Strategies and Tactics of Dissident Irish Republican Organisations (ESRC Grant of £288,103)

Research Projects

Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Dr Rachel Davey. Supervisor(s): Professor Richard McManus, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Mr Nathan Deacon. Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Prince, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Exploration of parental perceptions of Grammar Schools among Asian (Nepalese, Indian and Chinese) and white British ethnic communities in Kent.. Researcher(s): Mrs Sunita Lamsal Poudel. Supervisor(s): Dr Gemma Van Vuuren-Cassar, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The experience of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the UK: Migration and identity. Researcher(s): Dr Jana Warren. Supervisor(s): Dr Dennis Nigbur, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
Vietnam 1969-1975: The Nixon Administration, de-escalation and the end of the Vietnam War.. Researcher(s): Mr Kieran Pryce. Supervisor(s): Professor Kevin Ruane, Professor Thomas Hennessey, Professor Louise Wilkinson. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
We recommend that Tracey reviews the thesis title as discussed in the viva and set out in our recommendations.. Researcher(s): Ms Tracey Dessoy. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Astrid Stilma, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project]

Editorship

Irish Political Studies 2012-15 (official journal of the Political Studies Association of Ireland)

Conference Papers, Roundtables and Lecture

‘Talking to the Enemy: British-IRA Talks 1972-76’ Political Studies Association, University of Ulster (March 2012)

Workshop on Dissident Republicanism in Northern Ireland, Royal United Services Institute, Whitehall (December 2011)

Conference Speaker: Strengthening Unionism debate, Democratic Unionist Party conference (November 2011)

Roundtable Participant: ‘Terrorism - Northern Ireland and British Counter-Terrorism StrategyBritish Security in the Post-Cold War World: Challenges and Responses’Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (November 2011)

‘The First Northern Ireland Peace Process: Conflict Resolution and Counter Insurgency’ Political Studies Association of Ireland, University College Dublin (October 2011)

‘Who Started the Troubles?’ Political Studies Association of Ireland, Dublin City University (October 2010)

‘Who Started the Troubles?’ Ireland and Victims: Recognition , Reparation, Reconciliation? University of Rennes 2, Brittany, France (September 2010)

‘Talking to Terrorists’ Political Studies Association, Edinburgh (April 2010)

‘Did Internment Work?’, Political Studies Association, Manchester (April 2009).

‘The Missing Dimension in the Northern Ireland Peace Process: IRA Containment and British counter-insurgency/ terrorism strategies’, Political Studies Association of Ireland Peace and Conflict specialist group, Dublin (May 2009).

‘The Missing Dimension: British State Repression and the Northern Ireland Peace Process’, European Federation and Conferences of Irish Studies, Vienna (July 2009).

‘The Missing Dimension in the Northern Ireland Peace Process: IRA Containment and British counter-insurgency/ terrorism strategies‘, Political Studies Association of Ireland, Liverpool (October 2009).

‘Lessons from the Troubles’ Round Table participant; hosted by Policy Exchange, Westminster (November 2009)

'Westminster and Northern Ireland 1968-72: from Civil Rights to Insurgency', British Association of Irish Studies and Civil Rights Commemorative Committee, Houses of Parliament (July 2008)

‘Britishness in Ireland’ European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies, University of Seville (December 2007)

‘The Good Friday Agreement’ for the ‘Milestones in Irish History’ series Boston College, Dublin (May 2007)

Books

The Democratic Unionist Party. From Protest to Power co-authored with Jonathan Tonge, Marie Braniff, James W McAuley and Sophie A Whiting(ISBN-10: 0198705778 OUP Oxford 2014)

Hunger Strike. Mrs Thatcher’s Battle with the IRA 1980-1981 (ISBN- 10: 0716531763 Irish Academic Press 2013)

Britain’s Korean War: Cold War Diplomacy, Strategy and Security1950-53 (ISBN-10: 978-0-7190-8859-9 Manchester University Press 2013)

Spooks: the Unofficial History of MI5 co-authored with Claire Thomas (Gloucester: Amberley 2009) ISBN-10: 1848680791

The Evolution of the Troubles 1970-72 (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 2007) ISBN 978 0 7165 28845)

Northern Ireland: the Origins of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 2005) ISBN 0-7171-3382-6

The Northern Ireland Peace Process. Ending the Troubles? (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan/New York: St Martins Press 2000) ISBN 0-7171-2946-2

Dividing Ireland: World War One and Partition (London: Routledge, 1998) ISBN 0-415-174201

A History of Northern Ireland, 1920-1996 (London: Macmillan/Dublin: Gill & Macmillan/New York: St Martins Press 1997) ISBN 0-333-73162

Chapters/Articles

‘Unionism and Consent’ in The Anglo-Irish Agreement: Constitutional Concepts in Transition edited by Arthur Aughey and Cathy Gormley-Heenan (Palgrave Macmillan 2011)

‘Historic Loyalism’ in Loyalism since the Good Friday Agreement edited by JM McCauley and Graham Spencer (Palgrave Macmillan forthcoming 2011)

‘Patrick Pearse and Partition’, The Life and After-life of P.H. Pearse: Padraig Mac Piarais: Saol Agus Oidhreacht, Higgins, R. and Chollatain, R.U. (eds) (Irish Academic Press, 2009). pp,111-123 isbn. 978 0 7165 3011 4

‘The Evolution of National Identity among Ulster Protestants in the Twentieth Century’, Irish Protestant Identities, Busteed, M., Neal, F. and Tonge, J. (eds) (Manchester University Press, 2009). Pp 344-365 isbn.0719077451

‘Negotiating the Belfast Agreement’, The Northern Ireland Question: The Peace Process and the Belfast Agreement, Barton, B. and Roche, P.J. (eds) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), pp.38-56 isbn.978 0 230 20389

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland: Beyond unionism and nationalism Tonge, J., Braniff, M., Hennessey, T., Rice, C., Whiting, S. A., (24 Sep 2024). Oxford: Oxford University Press (OUP). [Book]
Same but different? The Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party compared Tonge, J., Braniff, M., Hennessey, T., McAuley, J. W., Whiting, S. A., (20 Sep 2020, 02 Jul 2020): Taylor & Francis. [Journal article]
The Ulster Unionist Party: Country before party? Hennessey, T., Braniff, M., McAuley, J. W., Tonge, J., Whiting, S. A., (03 Jan 2019). Oxford: Oxford University Press (OUP). [Book]
Slow learners? Comparing the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast/Good Friday agreement Hennessey, T., (Feb 2017), Sunningdale, the uUster workers' council strike and the struggle for democracy in Northern Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press. [Book chapter]
The first Northern Ireland peace process: Power-sharing, Sunningdale and IRA ceasefires, 1972-76 Hennessey, T., (04 Oct 2015): Palgrave Macmillan. [Book]
Britain's Korean war: Cold War diplomacy, strategy and security Hennessey, T., (01 May 2015). Manchester: Manchester University Press. [Book]
The Democratic Unionist Party: From protest to power, (12 Jun 2014). Oxford: Oxford University Press (OUP). [Book]
Hunger strike: Margaret Thatcher's battle with the IRA 1980-1981 Hennessey, T., (25 Nov 2013): Irish Academic Press. [Book]
Historic loyalism: Allegiance, patriotism, Irishness and Britishness in Ireland Hennessey, T., (19 Jan 2011), Ulster Loyalism after the Good Friday Agreement: History, Identity and Change: Palgrave Macmillan. [Book chapter]
Spooks: the unofficial history of MI5 Hennessey, T., Thomas, C., (15 Apr 2009). Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Amberley Publishing. [Book]
Talking to terrorists Hennessey, T., 60th Political Studies Association Annual Conference. [Conference paper]
The troubles: who started them? Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s Hennessey, T., The Political Studies Association of Ireland Annual Conference. [Conference paper]
The troubles: who started them? Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s Hennessey, T., Ireland and Victims: Recognition, Reparation, Reconciliation?. [Conference paper]
Did internment work? Hennessey, T., Political Studies Association. [Conference paper]
Lessons from the Troubles Hennessey, T., Round Table. [Conference paper]
The missing dimension in the Northern Ireland Peace Process: IRA containment and British counter-insurgency/terrorism strategies Hennessey, T., Political Studies Association of Ireland. [Conference paper]
The missing dimension in the Northern Ireland Peace Process: IRA containment and British counter-insurgency/terrorism strategies Hennessey, T., Political Studies Association of Ireland Peace and Conflict Specialist Group. [Conference paper]
The missing dimension: British State repression and the Northern Ireland Peace Process Hennessey, T., European Federation and Conferences of Irish Studies. [Conference paper]
Commentary upon, 'Modern Irish Republicanism: the Product of British State Strategies' by Anthony McIntyre Hennessey, T., Irish Political Studies Reader: Key Contributions. London: Routledge. [Book chapter]
The evolution of the Troubles, 1970-72 Hennessey, T.. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. [Book]
Northern Ireland: the origins of the Troubles Hennessey, T.. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. [Book]
The politics of Northern Ireland Hennessey, T., A Companion to Contemporary Britain 1939-2000. Oxford: Blackwell. [Book chapter]
Dividing Ireland: World War One and Partition Hennessey, T., (15 Oct 1998). London, UK: Routledge. [Book]
A history of Northern Ireland 1920-1996 Hennessey, T., (Dec 1997). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. [Book]
Ulster Unionism and loyalty to the Crown of the United Kingdom, 1912-1972 Hennessey, T., (18 Sep 1996), Unionism in Modern Ireland. London, UK: Macmillan. [Book chapter]

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Contact me

thomas.hennessey@canterbury.ac.uk

01227921661

Based in

Faculty of Arts Humanities and Education

School of Humanities and Educational Studies

Professor Thomas Hennessey