Censorship and propaganda in Northern Ireland during the Second World War

It highlights how the government’s publicity machinery, originally designed to enhance the trade prospects of Northern Ireland, was gradually altered to reinforce the province’s constitutional position and to positively promote its industrial,<br>agricultural, and military output in the United Kingdom and further abroad. This research also demonstrates the nature of the Unionist government’s relationship with the British government in regards to the operation of devolution and the introduction of British administrative bodies into Northern Ireland.

It challenges the perception that Ulster unionists were inarticulate in this period, while also highlighting the severity of their local censorship legislation and arguing that the government discriminated against local minorities in its application. The extent of Unionist self-belief in the righteousness of their cause is explored, as is the nature of the Northern Irish government’s relationship with external figures who propagandised on their behalf or with their encouragement.

This research also offers broader insights into unionist culture, the nature of devolution, and the functioning of Northern Irish democracy<br>under the Stormont regime in the mid-twentieth century.