Professor Stephen Kelly
PROFESSOR OF MODERN IRISH HISTORY
History and Politics
0151 291 3063
kellys@hope.ac.uk
Professor Stephen Kelly
Professor of Modern Irish History and British-Irish Relations
kellys@hope.ac.uk
Management & Administrative Duties:
1. University Academic Committee member
2. School Academic Committee member
3. Director of MA History programme
4. Director of Irish Studies Research Group
Teaching Duties (selected):
1. Level H (Year 3) module co-ordinator. Ideology and reaction: European Fascism, Nazism and the Holocaust, 1919-1945.
2. Level I (Year 2) core module series: Continental Europe and Britain and Ireland seminars and various Skills and Sources Workshops.
3. Level C (Year 1) core module series: Modern Europe (including Margaret Thatcher's Britain, 1979-1990).
4. MA History Module, A study in Varieties in Modern European Nationalism, 1789-1945.
Publications:
A) Books (monographs):
1. The Conservative Party Leadership and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1969-1998: 'No textbook solutions' (Bloomsbury Press, forthcoming, 2007),
2. Gerald Boland, 1885-1973: A Life (Wordwell Books, 2024)
3: Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party and the Northern Ireland conflict, 1975-1990 (Bloomsbury Press, 2021; paperback 2022). Winner of the 2022 'CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles' awards.
4: 'A failed political entity': Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland question, 1945-1992 (Merrion Press, 2016)
5: Fianna Fail, partition and Northern Ireland, 1926-1971 (Irish Academic Press, 2013)
6: A conservative at heart? The political and social thought of John Henry Newman (Columba Press, 2012)
B) Books (edited collections):
1: Frank Aiken: Nationalist, Internationalist (Irish Academic Press, 2014). Joint editors, Stephen Kelly and Bryce Evans.
C) Articles (peer-reviewed journals, published/accepted for publication):
1: ' Poacher turned gamekeeper: Gerald Boland, the IRA and Nazi spies, 1939-1946 ', Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2022, pp. 1-21.
2: "'I was altogether out of tune with my colleagues": Conor Cruise O'Brien and Northern Ireland, 1969-1977', Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 44, No. 167, 2021, pp. 101-121.
3: 'The Anglo-Irish Agreement put us on the side with the Americans': Margaret Thatcher, Anglo-Irish relations and the path to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1979-1985', Contemporary British History, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2020, pp. 433-457.
4: "'No textbook solutions to the problems in Northern Ireland": Airey Neave and the Conservative Party's Northern Ireland policy, 1975-1979', Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 29, 2018, pp. 237-260.
5: '"The totality of relationships": The Haughey-Thatcher relationship and the Anglo-Irish summit meeting, 8 December 1980', Eire-Ireland, Fall/Winter 2017, pp. 244-273.
6: 'An opportunistic Anglophobe: Charles J. Haughey, the Irish government and the Falklands War, 1982', Contemporary British History, Vol. 30, No. 4, 2016, pp. 522-541.
7: '"Mr Haughey's silence condemns him": Charles J. Haughey and the Second Republican Hunger Strike, 1981', Irish Political Studies, Vol. 31, Issue 4, 2016, pp. 1-25.
8: 'A Southern interference in the North's affairs: The prospect of Fianna Fail as an all-Ireland political party, 1926-2011', Irish Studies Review, Vol. 22, Issue 3, 2014 (University of Cambridge Press), 415-431.
9: 'The preservation of the John Henry Newman papers: digitisation and dissemination', Catholic Archives, No. 34, 2014, 52-64.
10: 'A history of the John Henry Newman archival papers', Newman Studies Journal, Vol. 10, Issue 1, spring, 2013, 68-81.
11: 'Fresh evidence from the archives: the genesis of Charles J. Haughey's attitude to Northern Ireland', Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 23, 2012, 155-170.
12: 'The Sinn Fein millionaire: James O Mara and the first American bond-certificate drive, 1919-1921', New Hibernia Review, Vol. 15, No. 4, winter, 2011, 9-28.
13: 'A policy of futility: Eamon de Valera's anti-partition propaganda campaign, 1948-1951', Etudes Irlandaises, no. 36-2, autumn, 2011, 34-49.
14: 'John Henry Newman and the writing of history', Newman Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, fall, 2011, 29-41.
15: 'John Henry Newman, the Young Irelanders and the Catholic University of Ireland', Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 101 (autumn, 2011), 8-22.
16: 'Derry came too soon: The Irish government's reaction to the outbreak of violence in Derry, 12-15 August 1969, University College Dublin History Review (Dublin, 2006), 54-76.
C) Chapters:
1: ‘Peter Brooke’, in Antony Mullen, David Jeffery, Sam Blaxland and Martin Farr (eds) Thatcher’s Ministers (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2025), pp. tbc.
2: 'Margaret Thatcher, repartition, cross-border security and the Irish border, 1979-1990', in Neil Fleming and James H. Murphy (eds.) Ireland and partition: contexts and consequences (Clemson University Press, 2021), pp.183-204.
3: 'From anti-partitionism to realpolitik? Frank Aiken, Partition and Northern Ireland, 1948-1954', in Bryce Evans and Stephen Kelly (eds.), Frank Aiken, 1898-1983: Nationalist and Internationalist (Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 2014), 183-208.
4: "'A sympathetic realist": John Henry Newman and Irish Nationalism, 1829-1887', in Kelly, A conservative at heart?, 77-105.
5: "'Conditional constitutionalists": The reaction of Fianna Fail grass-roots supporters to the IRA border campaign, 1956-1962', in William Sheehan and Maura Cronin (eds.), Riotous assemblies: a history of riots and public disorder in Ireland (Cork, Mercier Press, 2011), 210-226.
6: 'The politics of terminology: Sean Lemass and Northern Ireland, 1959-1966', in Colin Reid and Caoimhe Nic Dhaibheid (eds.), From Parnell to Paisley: constitutional and revolutionary politics in Ireland, 1879-2008 (Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 2010), 139-158.
D) Book reviews:
1: Review of Tom Feeney, Sean MacEntee, a political life (Dublin, 2009); Irish Historical Studies (May, 2011), 494-495.
2. Review of Aaron Edwards, UVF: behind the mask (Kildare, 2017). Irish Historical Studies (Nov. 2017), 494-495.
3. Review of Donnacha O Beachain, From partition to Brexit: the Irish government and Northern Ireland (Manchester University Press, 2018). Irish Literary Review (2019).
Research:
My research specialisms focus on:
Modern Irish history
The Northern Ireland conflict
Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism
British-Irish relations
Modern British history
European Nationalism
Classical European Fascism and the Holocaust
The British Union of Fascists
St John Henry Newman
I am happy to hear from potential research students interested in working in such areas as Modern Ireland; Modern Britain; Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism; Northern Ireland and the Troubles; Anglo-Irish relations; Concepts and theories in European Nationalism; European Fascism; The British Union of Fascists (BUF); and St John Henry Newman (political and social thoughts).
Current Research
I am currently working on a biography of Gerald Boland (1885-1973), Irish revolutionary and Fianna Fail government minister.
In January 2021, I published my latest monograph, Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Party and the Northern Ireland conflict, 1975-1990 (Bloomsbury Press, 2021).
In 2016, I published, 'A failed political entity': Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland question, 1945-1992 (Merrion Press, 2016).
In 2014, I published an edited collection examining the life and political career of Frank Aiken (1898-1983). Frank Aiken: Nationalist and Internationalist, (Irish Academic Press, 2014) (eds) B. Evans and S. Kelly.
The previous year, 2013, I published my second monograph, Fianna Fail, partition and Northern Ireland, 1926-1971 (Irish Academic Press, 2013).
In 2012, I published my first monograph, A conservative at heart? The political and social thought of John Henry Newman (Columba, 2012).
Honours and Prizes:
2021-2022:
1. Visiting Fellow, University College Dublin Humanities Institute, 2021-2022
2018:
1. Erasmus Teaching Exchange programme - KU Leuven University, Belgium
2017:
1. 2017 Book Prize winner, Political Studies Association, Conservative and Conservatism Specialist Group
2016-2017:
1. Archives By-Fellowship (2016-2017) Churchill College, University of Cambridge
2. 2016-2017 John Antcliffe Memorial Fund Grant, The Churchill Archives Centre, University of Cambridge
2015:
1. British Higher Education Academy Teaching Fellowship
2014:
1. Teaching and Learning Award, Liverpool Hope University (LHU)
2013:
1. Exceptional New Lecturer Award, a student nominated, LHU
2012:
1. The John Henry Newman Resident Fellowship (The National Institute for Newman Studies, Pittsburgh, USA)
2011:
1. John Henry Newman IRCHSS Post-Doctoral Fellow, UCD
2010:
1. Lord Edward Fitzgerald Memorial Bursary Fund, Silver Medal (UCD, NUI)
2009/2008:
1. The James O'Mara Gold Medal Bursary research award
Career to date:
I received my PhD from the School of History and Archives, UCD, in November 2010. The basis of my PhD dissertation was published in monograph form in J2013 (see Stephen Kelly, Fianna Fail, Partition and Northern Ireland, 1926-1971 (Irish Academic Press, 2013)).
From 2009 to 2012 I was an adjunct lecturer within the School of History and Archives, UCD. I co-ordinated several modules, including Varieties of Modern European Nationalism, 1789-1989 and Themes in Anglo-Irish Relations, 1798-1998. I also co-ordinated various Liberal Arts modules.
From 2010 to 2011 I was the John Henry Newman Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) Post-Doctoral Fellow, International Centre for Newman Studies, UCD.
In 2012 I held a Research Fellowship from the National Institute for Newman Studies, Pittsburgh.
My research interests in relation to St. John Henry Newman focus on the subject's political and social thought. In July 2012 I published my first monograph on this hitherto neglected subject (see Stephen Kelly, A conservative at heart? The political and social thought of John Henry Newman (Columba Press, 2012)). I have also published several articles related to Newman studies.
FUNDING AWARDS:
2016-2017:
1. 2016-2017 John Antcliffe Memorial Fund Grant, The Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University
2014:
1. Teaching and Learning Award, LHU (£800.00)
2. Research Bursary, LHU. Project title 'Margaret Thatcher and Anglo- Irish Relations, 1979-1990' (£1,275.00)
2013
1. LHU Scholarly Publican Grant ( total £750.00)
2. Organising a Conference Award, LHU (2 awards) (total £2,500.00)
2011:
1. National University of Ireland (NUI), Scholarly Publication Grant Award - £1,500.00
MEDIA ENGAGEMENT:
Print media
I have published extensively in several newspapers, including The Irish Times, The Belfast Telegraph, The Derry Journal, the Irish News and the Journal.ie.
Radio/Television
1. BBC 4 Radio
2. BBC Foyle Radio show, Lunchtime with Mark Patterson.
3. RTE Radio: Today with Sean O Rourke
4. RTE Radio: The History Shows
5. RTE Television: Gun Plot - Television and podcast series
6. Newstalk's The Pat Kenny Show
7. Newstalk's Talking History
8. Tipp FM
9. Life FM (Cork)
EXTERNAL REVIEWER:
1. Cambridge University Press
2. Liverpool University Press
3. Palgrave Macmillan
4. Irish Academic Press
5. Eire-Ireland
6. Irish Studies Review