Abstract
Unionist politicians have argued that Republican political violence on the Irish border, during both the partition of Ireland and more recent Northern Ireland conflict, constituted ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Protestant/Unionist community in those areas. These views have been bolstered by an increasingly ambivalent scholarly literature that has failed to adequately question the accuracy of these claims. This article interrogates the ethnic cleansing/genocide narrative by analysing Republican violence during the 1920s and the 1970s. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical literature and archival sources, it demonstrates that Republican violence fell far short of either ethnic cleansing or genocide, (in part) as a result of the perpetrators’ self-imposed ideological constraints. It also defines a new interpretive concept for the study of violence: functional sectarianism. This concept is designed to move scholarly discussion of political and sectarian violence beyond the highly politicised and moral cul-de-sacs that have heretofore characterised the debate, and has implications for our understanding of political violence beyond Ireland.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 635-655 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Terrorism and Political Violence |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 21 Jul 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
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Bosnia on the Border? Republican Violence in Northern Ireland During the 1920s and 1970s. / Lewis, Matthew; McDaid, Shaun.
In: Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 29, No. 4, 2017, p. 635-655.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Bosnia on the Border?
T2 - Republican Violence in Northern Ireland During the 1920s and 1970s
AU - Lewis, Matthew
AU - McDaid, Shaun
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Unionist politicians have argued that Republican political violence on the Irish border, during both the partition of Ireland and more recent Northern Ireland conflict, constituted ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Protestant/Unionist community in those areas. These views have been bolstered by an increasingly ambivalent scholarly literature that has failed to adequately question the accuracy of these claims. This article interrogates the ethnic cleansing/genocide narrative by analysing Republican violence during the 1920s and the 1970s. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical literature and archival sources, it demonstrates that Republican violence fell far short of either ethnic cleansing or genocide, (in part) as a result of the perpetrators’ self-imposed ideological constraints. It also defines a new interpretive concept for the study of violence: functional sectarianism. This concept is designed to move scholarly discussion of political and sectarian violence beyond the highly politicised and moral cul-de-sacs that have heretofore characterised the debate, and has implications for our understanding of political violence beyond Ireland.
AB - Unionist politicians have argued that Republican political violence on the Irish border, during both the partition of Ireland and more recent Northern Ireland conflict, constituted ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Protestant/Unionist community in those areas. These views have been bolstered by an increasingly ambivalent scholarly literature that has failed to adequately question the accuracy of these claims. This article interrogates the ethnic cleansing/genocide narrative by analysing Republican violence during the 1920s and the 1970s. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical literature and archival sources, it demonstrates that Republican violence fell far short of either ethnic cleansing or genocide, (in part) as a result of the perpetrators’ self-imposed ideological constraints. It also defines a new interpretive concept for the study of violence: functional sectarianism. This concept is designed to move scholarly discussion of political and sectarian violence beyond the highly politicised and moral cul-de-sacs that have heretofore characterised the debate, and has implications for our understanding of political violence beyond Ireland.
KW - ethnic cleansing
KW - genocide
KW - Irish Republican Army
KW - Northern Ireland
KW - sectarianism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937611478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/24942/
U2 - 10.1080/09546553.2015.1043429
DO - 10.1080/09546553.2015.1043429
M3 - Article
VL - 29
SP - 635
EP - 655
JO - Terrorism and Political Violence
JF - Terrorism and Political Violence
SN - 0954-6553
IS - 4
ER -