David McCann & Cillian McGrattan 
Sunningdale, the Ulster Workers“ Council Strike and the Struggle for Democracy in Northern Ireland [EPUB ebook] 

The “Sunningdale experiment“ of 1973-4 witnessed the first attempt to establish peace in Northern Ireland through power-sharing. However, its provisions, particularly the cross-border “Council of Ireland“, proved to be a step too far. The experiment floundered amid ongoing paramilitary-led violence, finally collapsing in May 1974 as a result of the Ulster Workers“ Council strike.Drawing on new scholarship from some of the top political historians working on the period, this book presents a series of reflections on how key protagonists struggled with notions of power-sharing and the “Irish dimension“, and how those struggles inhibited a deepening of democracy and the ending of violence for so long.