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Education plays an important role in bridging divisions and promoting positive intergroup relations. A number of initiatives aimed at improving relations in conflict-affected societies have been based on the contact hypothesis. However, very little attention has been devoted to the potential of such interventions to reduce social distance between groups. Moreover, the voices of the young people involved in such programmes have rarely been taken into consideration. This paper tries to address these gaps using a qualitative methodology. It presents the views and experiences of post-primary pupils involved in planned educational contact encounters in two countries that have experienced interethnic violence: Northern Ireland and the Republic of North Macedonia. The findings suggest that planned contact can be effective in reducing social distance. However the programmes need to provide opportunities for more frequent meetings, more personalized communication between pupils, and the sensitive exploration of contentious issues to ensure long-lasting changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the evaluation of a European PEACE III sponsored teaching and learning project that was designed to enable social work students to better understand the needs of victims and survivors of the conflict in Northern Ireland. The paper begins with an introduction to policy, practice and educational contexts before reviewing the literature on social work, conflict and trauma. It also summarises key, innovative pedagogical approaches used in the teaching, including the use of ground rules, teaching teams consisting of lecturer and service user dyads, learning exercises and case studies. The paper then explains the evaluation methodology. This involved two surveys which returned 144 student and 34 practice teacher questionnaires. The findings revealed that students were generally committed to this form of teaching and engagement with victims and survivors of the conflict, although some students reported that their attitudes towards this subject had were not changed. Some students also discussed how the conflict had affected their lives and the lives of families and friends; it is argued that such biographical details are crucial in developing new pedagogical approaches in this area. Practice teachers who supervised some of these students on placement reported general levels of satisfaction with preparedness to work with conflict related situations but were less convinced that organisations were so committed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the study limitations and a recommendation for more robust methods of teaching and evaluation in this area of social work education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of young people's involvement in forms of violence and anti-social behaviour is one that is generating increasing concern across Northern Ireland. Young people are frequently regarded as one of the primary sources of social disorder and are often blamed for provoking fear and a sense of insecurity among elder members of the community. However, in much of the recent writing and in most of the policy responses to problems of anti-social behaviour, there is an inappropriate use of the term “young people”, which effectively functions as a gloss for “young males”. Young women are implicitly included in the concept of “young people as problem” but are effectively excluded from policy considerations, which largely focus on dealing with young men. This paper draws upon research into young people's attitudes to and experiences of violence and disorder in Northern Ireland, but focuses specifically on the views of young women and explores their experiences and knowledge of violence and disorder. The paper considers how far young women's concerns are being acknowledged and questions how far the needs of young women can be accommodated or the risks some of them pose are being addressed by subsuming them within the broader category of “young people”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While formal truth recovery processes have been commonplace in many transitional societies, the question of whether Northern Ireland should have an official examination of its past has been contested. Some of the most vociferous opposition to a truth mechanism has been from unionist and loyalist political parties and associations. The Consultative Group on the Past's recommendation for the establishment of a ‘Legacy Commission’ – a bespoke truth recovery body for Northern Ireland – has hence become the most recent focus for their concerns. Based upon extensive and original qualitative interviews with elite level political and civil society representatives, this paper analyses and explores unionists' and loyalists' opposition to and reluctance to engage in the truth recovery debate. This paper argues that their oppositional discourses to truth recovery are grounded in prevailing ideological beliefs and perceptions. The longevity of these factors poses significant questions for the future development of the truth recovery debate in Northern Ireland and the place of unionists and loyalists within it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Developing recent ethnographic work on the subjective experiences of those involved in traumatic events, this paper examines the stories that Protestants tell about their experiences of violence along the Irish border in the 1970s and 1980s. These stories are only now beginning to surface, and the paper considers the transition from the private experience of suffering to its public telling. It focuses on how people find a voice for their telling and what happens as a result of breaking the silence. Of special interest is the language and style in which the narratives enter the public domain, and the silences that remain. The paper argues that the narratives are shaped as much by the demands of communal identity as by individual experience, and thereby complements the trauma literature that tends to emphasise the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines methodological challenges in researching paramilitary violence, with particular reference to the author's examination of paramilitary 'punishment' activity in Northern Ireland. The author notes the dearth of published work on methodological issues in social science research of violence generally. The range of major qualitative studies on paramilitary violence is presented and discussed. The paper explains the context of conducting such research in Northern Ireland in terms of the broader political conflict. It then examines several key challenges in researching paramilitary violence based primarily on the author's research. These included maintenance of political sensitivity, good faith and cautious security protocols. Potential legal and ethical difficulties were addressed through design of interview schedules that minimized risk of disclosure of the names or identities of those subject to 'punishment' or the perpetrators of offences. Those subject to paramilitary 'punishment' proved 'hard-to-reach', requiring greater time and effort in meeting the initial target sample, and a consequent need to research across a wide range of voluntary and community-based organizations. While risks of physical injury were minimal, successful research in the field was achieved through transparency about the impartiality and funding independence of the researchers, and a strategic sensitivity towards community and political backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1973 and 1977, about 100 Provisional republican prisoners staged a series of violent prison protests and hunger strikes in the Republic of Ireland's high-security prison, Portlaoise. Research on political imprisonment during the Northern Ireland conflict overwhelmingly focuses on the H-Blocks struggle. The Portlaoise Prison protests, thus, remain an under-researched area, largely ignored by academics, commentators, and the public. This article tells the story of these protests in Portlaoise by focussing on three periods: winter 1974/5, winter 1975/6, and spring 1977. The Portlaoise protests ended almost simultaneously with the start of the blanket- and no-wash-protests in the H-Blocks. This article is based on the testimonials of former Irish republican prisoners, statements of the republican movement, and interviews with former Portlaoise inmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the geography of commemorative-related violence in Northern Ireland and considers its ramifications for a society in transition. Using original primary research, this article contributes to discussions on violence, space and memory through a spatial analysis of new quantitative archival data and existing archival material explored through a multi-disciplinary lens. It examines the complex relationship between the practices and processes of commemoration, the violence that it sometimes occasions and the places in which such violence exists. In unpacking this specific form of violence we consider the continued importance of both place and past in a post-conflict society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the relationship between territoriality and organized violence through an examination of two relatively understudied aspects of the production and reproduction of informal territorial boundaries in situations of violent conflict. It looks first at the role of the state in the establishment, maintenance, and institutionalization of substate territories associated with challengers, outlining how these bounding processes are generated through interaction between the state and challengers, rather than primarily through the actions of challengers. Secondly, it explores the shaping force of geopolitical contexts on the everyday maintenance of informal boundaries in conflict situations. The argument is illustrated with examples from the most recent period of violent conflict in the north of Ireland, drawing on a range of primary sources, including official and private papers. The article argues that an analysis that gives due recognition to the central role of the state and the importance of the geopolitical context in the delineation and institutionalization of substate territories associated with armed challengers can help us to better understand the dynamics of organized violence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores and reassesses the issues of social decline, educational underachievement and civic erosion in relation to the Protestant working class in Belfast. Prior to the ‘Troubles’ the Protestant working class in Belfast had at its heart a civic-mindedness which was in tune with working-class communities across the UK at the time. This civic-mindedness encouraged the growth of extended communities and placed an importance on church attendance and educational achievement; something which has been conveniently ignored in most analyses. Owing to population movements in Greater Belfast which followed the violence that followed the introduction of internment without trial in August 1971 Protestant church congregations dwindled and school attendances dropped significantly. The paper ultimately seeks to provide a ‘long view’ of the Protestant working-class experience in order to assist those who are concerned with the problems facing it in the current era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The availability under the Thirty Years Rule of the Northern Irish and UK state papers for the start of the Troubles has made it possible to reassess what happened on 5 October 1968 in Derry. This article uses these files, other primary sources such as newspapers, and the ‘Flashpoints Model of Public Disorder’ to examine how the civil rights march and the police reaction transformed the contexts within which people in Derry and Northern Ireland as a whole thought and acted. It goes on to explore the three days of rioting that followed the violent scenes on Duke Street and the ‘collective remembrance’ of the event, which reached its climax during the Stormont general election campaign of February 1969. The article argues that the existing literature has overlooked not only the complexity of what happened on 5 October 1968 in Derry, but also the conflicting readings that were subsequently developed by contemporaries. The struggle to control the narrative helped drive the fragmentation and polarization in the second city that was encouraging certain individuals and groups to adopt violent strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the major negotiation initiatives undertaken during the early ‘Troubles’, at the height of Britain's counter-insurgency campaign between 1972 and 1976. It analyses the first significant talks undertaken, namely the ‘Whitelaw talks’ of July 1972, marking the beginning of a tendency towards secret dialogue, permitted again during the clergy-led talks at Feakle in December 1974. Clandestine subtlety characterised the establishment of other backchannels, some undertaken with the knowledge of the political and intelligence communities (such as those developed by chief Secret Intelligence Service officer in Northern Ireland, Michael Oatley), and others that were unsanctioned and individually forged (for instance by retired General Sir John Hackett). Taking these initiatives holistically we can build a picture of both official and unofficial efforts to bring an end to violence in Northern Ireland, particularly given the brief ceasefires that were resultant of both the Whitelaw and Feakle talks. These efforts in the early 1970s belie later political espousals that ‘we don't talk to terrorists'. They will be posited as central to our understanding of the British approach to countering republican violence in the early ‘Troubles’, shifting away from the traditional focus on military aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines two major events in the history of the Northern Ireland conflict, Bloody Sunday and the hunger strikes, in order to explore the specific and often contradictory dynamics of violence and nonviolence. Whereas Bloody Sunday transformed nonviolent into violent resistance, the hunger strikes undermined the IRA's violent campaign. Thus, nonviolent resistance became the first step towards a successful settlement of the Northern Irish conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of violence by paramilitaries to punish and to discipline members of their own respective communities is an established practice developed throughout the course of the ‘Troubles’ and continues in the post-conflict period. Paramilitary ‘punishments’ are primarily an urban phenomenon with the bulk of recorded ‘punishments’ occurring within the greater Belfast area. This paper, drawing upon the authors' own database of such attacks, examines the on-going nature of paramilitary ‘punishments’ including the ‘punishment’ process, their frequency and location. Using GIS, it also explores the geographical distribution of ‘punishments’ in the greater Belfast area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the research on paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland has concentrated on either the historical origins of paramilitary organizations or the background characteristics of individuals who engage in this activity. Less attention has been given to analyzing public attitudes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland toward the use of paramilitary violence as a political tool within this society. In this paper we argue that one of the reasons for the intractability of the conflict and the current impasse over the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons is the widespread latent support for paramilitary activity among the civilian population in both these societies. Overall, the results suggest that only a lengthy period without political violence in Northern Ireland will undermine support for paramilitarism and result in the decommissioning of weapons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence of hate crime is easy to find in deeply divided societies. Yet a number of factors may mask or restrain the incidence of hate crime. The dynamic of a violent conflict, levels of residential segregation and the monopolization of violence by organized groups (paramilitaries) may all restrain levels of hate crime or make it less visible. This paper investigates this masking of hate crime in deeply divided societies with particular reference to Northern Ireland. It also argues that a complex motivational environment surrounds issues of violence, including hate crime, in deeply divided societies and that simplistic views of hate crime may not be helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In North Belfast, in 2018 and 2019, street violence involving groups of teenagers from unionist and nationalist communities resurfaced. To explain the persistence of this problem in contemporaneous Northern-Ireland, I focus on the obstacles local actors face when assessing the nature of this public problem. I return to the notion of 'recreational rioting', and how its critique led to debates on whether those behaviours were political or not: this unsettled controversy characterises the stalemate in the management of juvenile violence. I argue that this situation reveals a liminal moment in increasing interdependencies between unionist and nationalist communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that, at a tactical level, loyalist terrorism in the Irish border region between 1972 and 1974 worked. Cross-border attacks including bombings in Irish towns prompted the Irish government to reinforce security along the border—a long-standing loyalist demand. The loyalist campaign led to the IRA embarking on an effort to punish those who were believed to have passed information to loyalists, resulting in the killing of an Irish Protestant senator and widespread condemnation of the organization in the Republic of Ireland. However, short-term gains were outweighed by a growing perception among nationalists that the British state tolerated or even colluded in such attacks, undermining the British Army's campaign to gain trust (and information) within the Catholic population of Northern Ireland. The article also contends that middle-class loyalists played an important role in mobilizing and equipping loyalist paramilitary organizations. It concludes that the British Army showed an excessive tolerance of loyalists with political capital or ties to the security forces, despite evidence that such individuals were directly supporting the activities of loyalist paramilitaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional and economic development has recently returned to the forefront of economic analysis. The use of case studies (both historical and contemporary) has been important in this revival. Likewise, it has been argued recently by economic methodologists that historical context provides a kind of “laboratory” for the researcher interested in real world economic phenomena. Counterterrorism economics, in contrast with much of the rest of the literature on terrorism, has all too rarely drawn upon detailed contextual case studies. This article seeks to help remedy this problem. Archival evidence, including previously unpublished material on the DeLorean case, is an important feature of this article. The article examines how an inter-related strategy, which traded-off economic, security, and political considerations, operated during the Troubles. Economic repercussions of this strategy are discussed. An economic analysis of technical and organizational change within paramilitarism is also presented. A number of institutional lessons are discussed including: the optimal balance between carrot versus stick, centralization relative to decentralization, the economics of intelligence operations, and tit-for-tat violence. While existing economic models are arguably correct in identifying benefits from politico-economic decentralization, they downplay the element highlighted by institutional analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It was not long after the emergence of the present phase of 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s that concerns began to be expressed about the potentially negative effects that the violence was having on children's development and general sense of well-being. Since the early 1970s, a plethora of research studies have been conducted and published examining a range of different issues from children's overall levels of awareness of the conflict to their patterns of socialisation and moral and emotional development. Such work has been extremely important and has played a central role in drawing attention to and emphasising the plight of children in Northern Ireland. However, while it has certainly increased our understanding of some of the effects of 'the troubles' on children's lives, it has been less successful in drawing out and facilitating children's own perspectives and experiences. This paper outlines some of the reasons for this while also suggesting alternative methodological approaches that are more appropriate for the study of children's perspectives on 'the troubles'. It concludes with a brief discussion of two separate and quite different research studies that I have directed which have attempted to focus on the awareness and attitudes of young children towards 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the scholarly debate over sectarianism and the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) campaign during the Northern Ireland Troubles. It argues that although there is much merit in the contributions made in this discourse, unfortunately, for, the most part, there is a lack of engagement with the deeper meaning of sectarianism. Consequently, it seeks to enhance the understanding of sectarianism within this arena before considering the nature of the PIRA campaign. By conducting a thorough analysis of the killings conducted by this organisation in the early years of the conflict it is ultimately concluded that, at the very least, PIRA tolerated, and likely sanctioned, sectarian violence from within its ranks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reacting to the last of four distinct terrorist campaigns in Northern Ireland, the British Parliament in 1973 passed the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act, which was amended in 1974. The act marks the first time in United Kingdom statute law that terrorism is defined as the use of violence for political ends. British efforts are aimed at the development of the police to the point where the military is no longer required. Terroristic acts in Great Britain, usually connected with Northern Irish affairs, have led to the introduction of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, the powers of which are also described in this paper. The author also discusses the problem of the safeguarding of civil liberties as well as the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, drawn up by the Council of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divided societies emerging from conflict are found around the globe, and these divisions can cause, and may be perpetuated by, disunity in educational provision. Establishing sound and equitable education is considered vital in promoting reconciliation in places with apparently intractable conflict. Northern Ireland was involved in ethno-sectarian violence for 30 years. Society there is still fundamentally divided and there is considerable duplication of services supplying the needs of each community. This is true also of education with multiple schools each catering for 'their own' population. Sometimes these can be too small to be sustainable and/or may be inefficient. In this research GIS analysis is used to identify 32 pairs of primary schools and their levels of sustainability are estimated, alongside some additional cost of the duplication, although this can be difficult to quantify. Bringing schools together in a society emerging from conflict will not be easy for communities. However, economic costs may drive difficult structural change. Perhaps an even more important driver, in addition to financial costs, is the less tangible but even more important costs to future social cohesion should separation continue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flag protests that occurred during the tail of 2012 and early 2013 gained international media attention. Much of the media attention focused on the involvement of young people and sought to seek answers to how young people who had grown up in more peaceful times could be involved in violence that belonged in Northern Ireland's past. Research being conducted by the authors during the course of the flag protests on young people's experiences of living in post-conflict Belfast enabled the researchers to gain insight and clarity on the flag protests, why they had occurred and underlying factors that fuelled the riots and violence that followed, giving a snap shot of the strength of feeling and overall mood of the Protestant community at that time. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach, 2 focus groups with 14 young people aged between 15 and 24 (M = 17 years) were conducted followed by more in-depth semi-structured interviews with 6 young people from the focus groups and a further 6 interviews with youth and community workers from the East Belfast area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Intergenerational transmission of trauma describes the impact that traumatic events experienced by one generation have for the subsequent generation. In Northern Ireland, violent conflict raged between 1969 and 1998, when a peace process begun. This study explored to what extent (if any) parents’ experiences of the conflict influenced how children perceived life in this society. Parents completed a questionnaire, and their children drew 2 pictures, depicting Northern Ireland now and before they were born. Children’s behaviors and awareness of the conflict were influenced by their parents’ experiences and narratives, their age, gender, and school. Parental narrative about the violence was influenced by individual learning history, the child’s age and gender, and present circumstances. A behavior analytic approach is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that state violence in Northern Ireland during the period 1970–1976—when violence during the Troubles was at its height and before the re-introduction of the policy of police primacy in 1976—was on a greatly reduced scale from that seen in British counterinsurgency campaigns in the colonies after the Second World War. When the army attempted to introduce measures used in the colonies—curfews, internment without trial—these proved to be extremely damaging to London's political aims in Northern Ireland, namely the conciliation of the Catholic minority within the United Kingdom and the defeat of the IRA. However, the insistence by William Whitelaw, secretary of state for Northern Ireland (1972–73), on ‘throttling back'—the release of internees and the imposition of unprecedented restrictions on the use of violence by the army—put a serious strain on civil-military relations in Northern Ireland. The relatively stagnant nature of the conflict—with units taking casualties in the same small ‘patch’ of territory without opportunities for the types of ‘positive actions’ seen in the colonies—led to some deviancy on the part of small infantry units who sought informal, unsanctioned ways of taking revenge upon the local population. Meanwhile, a disbelieving and defensive attitude at senior levels of command in Northern Ireland meant that informal punitive actions against the local population were often not properly investigated during 1970–72, until more thorough civilian and military investigative procedures were put in place. Finally, a separation of ethnic and cultural identity between the soldiers and the local population—despite their being citizens of the same state—became professionally desirable in order for soldiers to carry out difficult, occasionally distasteful work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Utilizing interviews with former Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, Loyalists, and community workers, the article looks at how militants in Northern Ireland have helped to prevent terrorism and political violence (TPV) by adopting roles in the community. By using mobile phones, a network of former combatants emerged around interface areas in the late 1990s to contain trigger causes of terrorism, providing a unique role that the state could not. The structure of the network encouraged militant groups to follow the IRA's example to disengage—thus creating a domino effect—and the co-operation between senior militants has limited the opportunities for other groups to mobilize a campaign of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Northern Ireland after October 1968 rapidly descended into civil war. Local conflicts were of central importance in this turn to violence. By looking at the civil rights movement and then at Belfast Republicanism, this article argues that fragmentation and competition created incentives for groups and individuals to adopt violent strategies. Both the overarching conflict and the myriad local conflicts which were linked to it shaped how the early Troubles developed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cheryl Lawther's article on ‘Unionists, loyalists and truth recovery’ has laid bare some uncomfortable truisms in the debate about ‘dealing with the past’, including loyalist paramilitaries' insatiable opposition to any form of ‘truth recovery’ process and the tendency to lay the blame for their violent actions at the door of ‘middle-class’ unionist politicians. However, by raising the spectre of collective responsibility, the article understates the progress made by some loyalists in advancing the wider debate on peace-building. Indeed, there is much more that could be said about loyalist scepticism of a so-called ‘truth process’ than her analysis allows. The response presented here, intended to add not to subtract from the five major points made in the article, identifies and critiques the fault-lines of a cacophony of ‘peace process’ narratives that require greater scrutiny before a serious discussion can be embarked on of the history and legacy of the Northern Ireland ‘troubles’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Northern Ireland: A Comparative Analysis (F. Wright, 1987, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan) remains the most significant work of comparative historical analysis written on Ireland, yet its reputed difficulty has blunted its impact. This article reconstructs Frank Wright's research design and comparative method and situates the book in the research tradition of configurative macroanalysis pioneered by Barrington Moore. Wright's detailed, processual, analytic narratives comparing the breakdown of communal deterrence systems in Northern Ireland, the US South and Algeria have been relatively neglected in later literature. Those grounded comparisons focused on getting the concrete details of cases right while striving to build middle-range generalizations about ethnic stratification and political authority. His comparisons were morally serious searches for paths out of conflict, which analyzed the unfolding of temporal processes in ways that anticipated recent interest in path dependence; but Wright downplayed political institutions and overstated his categorical distinction between settlement colony and ethnic frontiers. Future comparative research on Northern Ireland should focus even more on variation across conflicts, including institutional change, but would benefit from re-engaging with A Comparative Analysis as a gateway to comparative historical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The profound impact that Frank Wright's 1987 book Northern Ireland: A Comparative Analysis has had on the study of deeply divided societies has only become clear over the long run. Despite (or perhaps because of) its complexity of structure, the book succeeds in offering comparative insights into how systems of inter-communal violence can first develop and then become self-sustaining. As an Englishman settled in Northern Ireland, Wright was highly sensitised to the condescension typically shown by liberal metropolitans towards the inhabitants of ‘ethnic frontiers’. Wright's principled refusal to see political stability in terms of moral essentialism lends his work both insight and continued relevance today. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the fraught, shifting terrain of'community' as lived out in 1970s Belfast. Applying Raymond Williams' concept of 'structures of feeling,' it explores 'community' consciousness that is rooted in affection, sensation, and knowledge. It then considers campaigns against redevelopment in west Belfast at this time, and the ways they were inspired and limited by the contemporary experience of 'community.' Based on fieldwork, oral histories, and archival resources, the discussion proposes that political action in divided societies is not reducible to sectarian geography. Rather, it advocates analysing the historically specific contours ofnuanced emotional allegiances and spatial associations that motivate and limit political action, and attention to how social content and place figure in conceptions of collectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern Ireland lived through a campaign of terrorism for thirty years. This has now ended and substantial progress has been made towards political stability through a long-term peace process. Using his experience as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, but also as leader of a political party, negotiator in the peace process and subsequently Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Lord Alderdice explores the psychology of political terrorism. He examines the role of individual and group psychology, the evolution and dissolution of a 'group mind', splitting, and the factors that contribute to division and violence. He describes the frustration of healthy pathways for change, and humiliation, shame and rage as key factors in triggering regression into political violence. Containment, respect and a group psychological process are identified as necessary for evolution towards a more healthy state. It is suggested that application of these Northern Irish insights to the issue of terrorism in other places and especially in the Middle East, may open new and more psychologically sophisticated ways of addressing the problem of terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the IRA still a threat to peace in Northern Ireland? Using the methods of strategic analysis, the author advances two interpretations of the IRA's current strategy, both of which stress the continuing value of organised violence in Republican strategic thinking. However, whereas the first interpretation contends that the IRA's current strategy contradicts the aims of the peace process, the second argues that the IRA's continued involvement in paramilitary activity serves the interests of those who want the Belfast Agreement to succeed. The article concludes that whether the IRA continues to be a threat to peace in Northern Ireland depends not so much on whether Republican involvement in paramilitary activity will continue, but what purpose it serves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the changing patterns of violence in Northern Ireland from the period just before the paramilitary ceasefires in 1994 through the duration of the years of the peace process. It provides an overview of data on activities including paramilitary activities,‘punishment’attacks, racist, homophobic and domestic violence, public disorder and rioting as well as serious and violent crime. The article then analyzes the changes, and offers some reasons accounting for them. This includes a review of the role of young people, paramilitary organizations and the police reform program in the ongoing violence, as well as an acknowledgment of a wider culture of violence that helps to sustain such activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shares thoughts on issues concerning violence and disruptions in Northern Ireland. Impact of the violence on the country; Need to educate children in divided societies; Measure to be taken to meet the challenge of the country's violent recent past.