The Queen’s speech: Desecuritizing the past, present and future of Anglo-Irish relations
| DOI | 10.1177/1354066115570157 |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| Published date | 01 December 2015 |
| Author | Faye Donnelly |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
European Journal of
International Relations
2015, Vol. 21(4) 911 –934
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1354066115570157
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JR
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The Queen’s speech:
Desecuritizing the past,
present and future of Anglo-
Irish relations
Faye Donnelly
University of St Andrews, UK
Abstract
This article adopts the Copenhagen School’s concept of desecuritization to analyse the
gestures of reconciliation undertaken during the 2011 state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to
the Republic of Ireland, including her willingness to speak in Gaeilge at Dublin Castle. In
the process, it opens new pathways to explore if, when and how desecuritizing moves
can become possible. To respond to these questions, this article advances the concept
of bilingual speech acts as a nuanced, yet fruitful, way to tease out the complexities of
security speech and (de)securitization processes. It is also suggested that the concept of
bilingual speech acts provides a way to respond to calls to include translation in critical
security and securitization studies. However, while acknowledging the importance of
these calls, it is shown that paying attention to bilingual speech acts demonstrates what
can also be lost in translation. Empirically, this article provides an in-depth analysis of
the 2011 state visit to unpack the different kinds of desecuritizing moves that were
undertaken in this context, as well as the different modalities of security speech that
were in play. To conclude, the merit of bilingual speech acts for understanding how to
speak security in different ways and vocabularies is discussed.
Keywords
Anglo-Irish relations, bilingual speech acts, desecuritization, desecuritizing moves,
translation
Corresponding author:
Faye Donnelly, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, Arts Faculty Building, The
Scores, St Andrews, KY16 9AX, UK.
Email: fd47@st-andrews.ac.uk
570157EJT0010.1177/1354066115570157European Journal of International RelationsDonnelly
research-article2015
Article
912 European Journal of International Relations 21(4)
Introduction
This article raises questions about the possibility for desecuritization to occur. Can
securitized speech acts situated between the past, present and future become meaning-
ful to new audiences? Is it possible for securitized speech acts so deeply institutional-
ized and internalized as those narrating Anglo-Irish relations to ever be moved back
into the political? How would we ultimately know if desecuritization had occurred?
What would it look, sound or even feel like? Such queries demonstrate that ‘how much
could be desecuritized and how’ remains ‘a major question’ (Wæver, 1995: 54; see also
Huysmans, 1998).
The purpose of this article is to respond to those questions by thinking through the
promises and problems surrounding desecuritization as it relates to a transformative
moment in Anglo-Irish relations. In March 2011, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II1 (here-
after, the Queen) accepted the invitation of then Uachtarán na hÉireann,2 Mary
McAleese, to visit the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Both the build-up to and the four-day
state tour itself attracted enormous global media attention. As President McAleese noted,
the stage was set for an ‘extraordinary moment in Irish history’ (McAleese, 2011a). The
arrival of the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, onto Irish soil at the
Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, on Tuesday 17 May 2011 signalled the first time that
a British monarch had officially visited the ROI since the 1911 tour of Queen Elizabeth’s
grandfather, King George V (Nolan, 2012: 131). The absence of any interim state visit
attests to the extremely complex relationship that has existed between these two coun-
tries, a relationship enveloped in centuries of enmity and conflict (Cowell, 2011).
With these considerations in mind, this article explores the Queen’s visit to Ireland as
a series of desecuritizing moves. Everything about the 2011 trip, from its conception to
the Queen’s dress codes and the places that she visited during her stay, served as impor-
tant symbolic gestures of reconciliation. They also encapsulated concerted efforts made
on both sides to move security back into the political realm and, in turn, out of conflict
and back into cooperation. The overall tone set by President McAleese was extremely
desecuritizing. Speaking in an interview with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), she described
the visit as:
A phenomenal sign and signal of the success of the peace process and absolutely the right
moment for us to welcome on to Irish soil Her Majesty the Queen, the head of state of our
immediate next-door neighbours, the people with whom we are forging a new future — a future
very, very different from the past, on very different terms from the past. (McAleese, 2011a)
Such sentiments were echoed by the Irish government, who, at the time, welcomed the
Queen’s visit as a way to ‘mark a further improvement in the very good relations
between Ireland and the United Kingdom’ (Department of Taoiseach, 2011a). Despite
his strong reservations about the Queen’s visit, the President of Sinn Féin,3 Gerry
Adams, conceived that the royal tour could provide ‘a unique opportunity’ for mutual
respect and equality on both sides of the Irish Sea (McDonald, 2011a). Desecuritizing
moves were also undertaken in the UK, where the Queen’s visit to Ireland was charac-
terized as a major milestone in improving the relationship between the neighbouring
islands. There, Prime Minister David Cameron stressed that the ‘visit will be a huge
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