Mass, Methods, and Means: The Northern Ireland ‘Model’ of Counter-insurgency

Bew, John

doi:10.1057/9781137336941_9

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Bew's most recent work, however, is less reticent, positioning SB at the center of "a patient but firm security policy" crucial to "bringing the conflict to an end." 210 Politically, the 2013 Haass proposals (by US diplomat Richard Haass) aimed at reviving an ailing peace settlement show why this outlook is the minority view. Haass, in broad terms, falls in behind Dixon's argument, thereby illustrating how the activities, strategy, and policies of the main protagonists are being and have been subtly sanitized by proxy post-conflict.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Security: Missing from the Northern Ireland Model

Matchett

2015

Democracy and Security

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The Northern Ireland model is best defined as the framing of the political endgame of Northern Ireland's conflict culminating in the 1998 Belfast Agreement, otherwise known as the Good Friday Agreement. The Northern Ireland model is popularly portrayed as a negotiated settlement. It focuses primarily on the bargain reached by Northern Irish political parties, assisted by British and Irish governments and mediated by US senator George Mitchell. Academics and officials alike use it to explain how the "Troubles" ended and peace was achieved. Conspicuously absent from this model is security. It also grossly understates the difficulty in dealing with a modern insurgency (the Provisionals) and leans too heavily toward skewed post-conflict thinking that views insurgents as "peacemakers" prevented from making peace because of a manifestly poor security response, particularly that of the police force and its intelligence agency (Special Branch). The perspective of politicians and diplomats who brokered the peace settlement prioritizes political negotiations at the expense of the security response; in so doing, the role of security is undermined and overlooked. Most contemporary academic works promote this outlook. Excluding security, however, thwarts a comprehensive analysis of the Northern Ireland conflict and renders any examination partial and unrepresentative. There is therefore a significant intellectual gap in our understanding of how peace was achieved, which this article redresses. Ultimately, it questions the Northern Ireland model's capacity to assist in other relevant conflict contexts in any practical sense by arguing that a strategy where security pushed as politics pulled brought about peace. In other words, security played a crucial part because it forced the main protagonists into a situation out of which the Belfast Agreement emerged.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Security: Missing from the Northern Ireland Model

Matchett

2015

Democracy and Security

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Terrorism, counterterrorism and ‘the rule of law’: state repression and ‘shoot-to-kill’ in Northern Ireland

White

Demirel-Pegg

Lulla

2020

Irish Political Studies

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Authors have argued that counterterrorism must be consistent with "the rule of law." Often associated with this approach is the assumption that plural political structures limit the state's response to terrorism and that state agents will be held accountable if their response is excessive. Scholars who focus on social movements reject this assumption.. We examine the state's response to anti-state violence in Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1994. In 1982, Sinn Féin did much better than expected in an election to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Following the election, it is alleged that state agents followed a "shoot-to-kill" policy and shot dead Irish republican paramilitaries instead of arresting them. We find evidence suggesting such a policy and consider the implications.

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Mass, Methods, and Means: The Northern Ireland ‘Model’ of Counter-insurgency

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

Security: Missing from the Northern Ireland Model

Security: Missing from the Northern Ireland Model

Terrorism, counterterrorism and ‘the rule of law’: state repression and ‘shoot-to-kill’ in Northern Ireland

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