NCJ Number
139274
Date Published
1991
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Despite the legal, military, and other weapons used by Great Britain over the past 300 years, the violence continues in Northern Ireland.
Abstract
The partition of Ireland, designed to contain violence through emergency measures, has required massive military commitment and financial support from mainland Britain. As a result, Northern Ireland has one of the highest ratios of police to citizens of any Western country. In recent years, there has been a shift from the primacy of the British army to a reliance on local police forces. The Irish Republican Army has, despite its policy not to open a second front in the south, nevertheless carried out operations there and in Britain. The violence experienced in Britain was used to justify passage of the Prevention of Terrorism Act which allows the banning of political organizations, the exclusion of individuals from Britain, and the holding of suspects for interrogation for up to seven days. There have been some international repercussions of the Irish conflict: attacks in Western Europe, the presence of IRA prisoners abroad, and an increased number of extradition cases. The author maintains that mainstream counterinsurgency experts have become apologists for the British State in its propaganda efforts against Northern Irish opposition. He concludes that the British government will not be able to contain the conflict in Northern Ireland, but will eventually be forced to negotiate with the republicans as equals. 96 notes