Menace without mandate? Is there any sympathy for 'dissident' Irish Republicanism in Northern Ireland?

Evans, JA; Tonge, J

Abstract

Dissident Irish Republicans have increased their violent activities in recent years.
These ‘‘spoilers’’ reject the 1998 Good Friday Agreement power-sharing deal
between Unionist and Nationalist traditions in Northern Ireland. Instead dissident
IRAs vow to maintain an armed campaign against Britain’s sovereign claim to
Northern Ireland and have killed British soldiers, police officers, and civilians in
recent years. These groups have small political organisations with which they are
associated. The assumption across the political spectrum is that, whereas Sinn Fein
enjoyed significant electoral backing when linked to the now vanished Provisional
IRA, contemporary violent Republican ultras and their political associates are
utterly bereft of sympathy. Drawing upon new data from the Economic and Social
Research Council 2010 Northern Ireland election survey, the first academic study to
ask the electorate its views of dissident Republicans, this article examines whether
there are any clusters of sympathy for these irreconcilables and their modus operandi.
The piece assesses whether there are any demographic, structural, ideological,
religious, or party trends indicating Republican dissident sympathies. It also assesses
the extent to which dissidents are seen as a threat and examines whether this perception
is shared evenly across Northern Ireland’s two main communities.

Citation

Evans, J., & Tonge, J. (2012). Menace without mandate? Is there any sympathy for 'dissident' Irish Republicanism in Northern Ireland?. Terrorism and Political Violence, 24(1), 61-78

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2012
• Deposit Date: Dec 8, 2011
• Journal: Terrorism and Political Violence
• Print ISSN: 0954-6553
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 61-78
• Keywords: mandates, Northern Ireland, political violence, security, spoilers
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com