Editing Northern Ireland (section)

===Descriptions===
[[File:Downhill Northern Ireland.jpg|thumb|Northern Ireland coast]]
There is no generally accepted term to describe what Northern Ireland is. It has been described as a country, province, region, and other terms officially, by the press, and in common speech. The choice of term can be controversial and can reveal one's political preferences.<ref name="interpretingNI"/> This has been noted as a problem by several writers on Northern Ireland, with no generally recommended solution.<ref name="alphabeticalNI"/><ref name="interpretingNI"/><ref name="placeApart"/>

[[ISO 3166-2:GB]] defines Northern Ireland as a province.<ref name="ISO"/> The UK's submission to the 2007 [[United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names]] defines the UK as being made up of two countries (England and Scotland), one [[principality]] (Wales) and one province (Northern Ireland).<ref>{{citation |author=United Kingdom |title=Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |year=2007 |work=Report by Governments on the Situation in their Countries on the Progress Made in the Standardization of Geographical Names Since the Eight Conferences |publisher=United Nations |location=New York |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/9th-UNCSGN-Docs/E-CONF-98-48-Add1.pdf |access-date=29 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327044249/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/9th-UNCSGN-Docs/E-CONF-98-48-Add1.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2009}}</ref> However, this term can be controversial, particularly for nationalists for whom the title province is properly reserved for the traditional province of Ulster, of which Northern Ireland comprises six out of nine counties.<ref name="Guardian style guide">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-n |title=The Guardian and Observer style guide |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=17 March 2021 |website=The Guardian |publisher= |access-date=15 April 2024 |quote=Northern Ireland: Can be referred to as a country or region, but avoid referring to it as a province or as Ulster.}}</ref><ref name="interpretingNI"/><ref name="dictPolSci"/> Some authors have described the meaning of this term as being equivocal: referring to Northern Ireland as being a province both of the United Kingdom and the traditional country of Ireland.<ref name="unionistPolitics"/>

The UK [[Office for National Statistics]] and the website of the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom describe the United Kingdom as being made up of four countries, one of these being Northern Ireland.<ref name="ONS Geography Guide" /><ref name=Number10CountriesWithinACountry/> Some newspaper style guides also consider country as an acceptable term for Northern Ireland.<ref name="Guardian style guide"/> However, some authors reject the term.<ref name="dictPolSci">{{Citation |title=Global Encyclopedia of Political Geography |year=2009}}</ref><ref name="alphabeticalNI"/><ref name="placeApart"/><ref name="unionistPolitics">{{Citation |first=F. |last=Cochrane |title=Unionist Politics and the Politics of Unionism Since the Anglo-Irish Agreement |year=2001 |publisher=Cork University Press |place=Cork}}</ref>

"Region" has also been used by UK government agencies<ref>{{Citation |author=David Varney December |title=Review of Tax Policy in Northern Ireland |year=2007 |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |place=London}}</ref> and newspapers.<ref name="Guardian style guide" /> Some authors choose this word but note that it is "unsatisfactory".<ref name="interpretingNI"/><ref name="placeApart"/> Northern Ireland can also be simply described as "part of the UK", including by the UK government offices.<ref name=Number10CountriesWithinACountry>{{cite web |url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page823 |title=countries within a country |year=2003 |publisher=The official site of the Prime Minister's Office |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080909013512/http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page823 |archive-date=9 September 2008}}</ref>