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Abstract
This paper aims to find out how participation in the electoral process may have helped to alter the strategic outlook of the Irish Republican movement. The questions to be answered are whether electoral participation has contributed to the diminishing importance of terrorist violence in Irish Republican strategy, and – in particular – how electoral participation has influenced the process of strategic change. Based on the construction of a sound theoretical framework within which to evaluate the impact of electoral participation on a terrorist group's strategic outlook, the argument presented is that there were primarily two mechanisms through which electoral participation impacted upon the process of transformation within the Irish Republican movement: (1) its inclusion into a systematic process of dialogue with other political actors, and (2) the exposure to public opinion, whose negative responses towards the use of armed force undermined the reliance on this method. Furthermore, the paper highlights the significance of several enabling factors – the role of external actors, leadership, and state repression – which may be used to enhance our theoretical framework in further studies.
Notes
1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in Washington, DC on 1 September 2005.
2 ‘Sinn Fein's Long Political Journey’, BBC News, 28 July 2005, available at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4648387.stm>.
3 See, for example, Paul Bew, Peter Gibbon and Henry Patterson, Northern Ireland 1921–96: Political Forces and Social Classes (London: Serif 1997) pp.219–20; Brendan O'Leary and John McGarry, The Politics of Agonism: Understanding Northern Ireland, 2nd ed. (London: The Athlone Press 1996) p.260; Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd, The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland (Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1996) p.254.
4 T.P. Thornton, ‘Terror as a Weapon of Political Agitation’, in Harry Eckstein (ed.), Internal War: Problems and Approaches (New York: Free Press 1964) pp.71–99. For a review of the problems associated with defining terrorism, see Bruce Hoffman, Inside Terrorism (New York: Columbia University Press 1998), esp. Chap. 1 (‘Defining Terrorism’); Alex P. Schmid, ‘Terrorism – The Definitional Problem’, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 36/2–3 (2004) pp.375–419.
5 See Peter R. Neumann, ‘The Imperfect Peace: Explaining Paramilitary Violence in Northern Ireland’, Low Intensity Conflict and Law Enforcement 11/1 (2002) p.117.
6 For a discussion of these terms, see Anthony Richards, ‘Terrorist Groups and Political Fronts: The IRA, Sinn Fein, the Peace Process and Democracy’, Terrorism and Political Violence 13/4 (2001) pp.72–4.
7 For the best overview of the ideologies that dominate the political discourse in Northern Ireland, see John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary, Explaining Northern Ireland (Oxford: Blackwell Press 1995).
8 By democratic participation, we mean the totality of all contributions to the formulation of policy in a democratic political system.
9 Samuel Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven and London: Yale University Press 1968) p.274.
10 Ibid. pp.275–6.
11 For this quotation, as well as an excellent review of the literature, see Cynthia McClintock, Revolutionary Movements in Latin America: El Salvador's FMLN and Peru's Shining Path (Washington, DC: United States Institute for Peace 1998) pp.5–19. See also Jeff Goodwin and Thea Skocpol, ‘Explaining Revolutions in the Contemporary Third World’, Politics and Society 17/3 (1989) p.495.
12 Martha Crenshaw, ‘The Causes of Terrorism’, Comparative Politics 13/4 (1981) pp.383–4.
13 Ronald D. Crelinsten, ‘Power and Meaning: Terrorism as a Struggle over Access to the Communication Structure’, in Paul Wilkinson (ed.), Contemporary Research on Terrorism (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press 1987) p.419.
14 Ibid. p.420.
15 Cynthia L. Irvin, Militant Nationalism: Between Movement and Party in Ireland and the Basque Country (University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis 1999) p.12.
16 See William Lee Eubank and Leonard Weinberg, ‘Does Democracy Encourage Terrorism?’, Terrorism and Political Violence 6/4 (1994) pp.417–43; also Leonard Weinberg and William Eubank, ‘Terrorism and Democracy: What Recent Events Disclose’, Terrorism and Political Violence 10/1 (1998) pp.108–18.
17 See Maurice Tugwell, ‘Terrorism and Propaganda: Problem and Response’, in Wilkinson (note 13) pp.410–4.
18 Kumar, quoted in Leonard Weinberg and Ami Pedahzur, Political Parties and Terrorist Groups (London: Routledge 2003) p.23.
19 See John Finn, ‘Electorial Regimes and the Proscription of Anti-democratic Parties’, Terrorism and Political Violence 12/3 (2000) p.53.
20 Robert Hislope, ‘Ethnic Conflict and the “Generosity Moment”’, Journal of Democracy 9/1 (1998) p.141.
21 For examples, see Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction (Oxford: Oxford UP 1999) p.110.
22 See Finn (note 19) pp.65–6.
23 Leonard Weinberg, ‘Turning to Terror: The Conditions under which Political Parties Turn to Terrorist Activities’, Comparative Politics 23/4 (1991) pp.423–4.
24 See Martha Crenshaw, ‘Theories of Terrorism: Instrumental and Organizational Approaches’, in David C. Rapoport (ed.), Inside Terrorist Organizations, 2nd ed. (London: Frank Cass 2001) p.22; also Jerrold M. Post, ‘Terrorist Psycho-logic: Terrorist Behavior as a Product of Psychological Forces’, in Walter Reich (ed.), Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press 1990) p.38.
25 C.J.M. Drake, Terrorists' Target Selection (London: Macmillan 1998) p.146.
26 ‘Palestinian Support for Suicide Bombers’, BBC News, 28 June 2002.
27 Irvin (note 15) pp.19–20.
28 Ibid. p.46.
29 Weinberg (note 23) pp.433–4.
30 See M.L.R. Smith, ‘The Intellectual Internment of a Conflict: The Forgotten War in Northern Ireland’, International Affairs 75/1 (1999) pp.82–5.
31 See, for example, Rachel Ehrenfeld, ‘IRA + PLO = Terror’, National Review, 21 August 2002.
32 For a detailed overview of the 1918 election results as well as their significance in the Irish Nationalist discourse, see John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary, Explaining Northern Ireland (Oxford: Blackwell 1995) pp.25–9.
33 This information is based on Malcom Sutton's ‘Index of Deaths’, which is available at the web site of the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) (http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/tables/Organisation_Responsible.html).
34 The impact of the July 2005 IRA statement declaring an end of ‘all activities whatsoever’ could not be fully assessed at the time of writing. For the 2004 report, see Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), First Report by the Independent Monitoring Commission (London: HMSO 2004) p.14, available at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/20_04_04_imcreport.pdf>.
35 Tim Pat Coogan, The IRA, 3rd ed. (London: Fontana 1987) (esp. Chaps 1 and 2).
36 See Joost Augusteijn, ‘Political Violence and Democracy: An Analysis of the Tensions within Irish Republican Strategy, 1914–2002’, Irish Political Studies 18/1 (2003) p.17.
37 Sinn Fein discussion document (1983), quoted in Irvin, p.161.
38 Danny Morrison, former publicity director of Sinn Fein, referring to the movement's attitude at the time of the 1981 Hunger Strike; interview with author, 3 December 2003.
39 Sinn Fein discussion document, quoted in Irvin, p.161; also Gerry Adams, Before the Dawn: An Autobiography (New York: William Morrow 1996) p.261.
40 Adams, quoted in Irvin (note 15) p.101.
41 Adams, quoted in ibid. p.95.
42 See Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (London: Penguin 2002) p.328.
43 Adams, quoted in David Sharrock and Mark Devenport, Man of War, Man of Peace? The Unauthorized Biography of Gerry Adams (London: Macmillan 1997) p.266.
44 ‘Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland’, reproduced in An Phoblacht/Republican News, 19 March 1992.
45 Henry Patterson, The Politics of Illusion: A Political History of the IRA (London: Serif 1997) p.236.
46 The so-called ‘TUAS’ document is reproduced in Eamonn Mallie and David McKittrick, The Fight for Peace: The Inside Story of the Irish Peace Process, 2nd ed. (London: Mandarin 1997) pp.421–4.
47 See ‘There Is No Doubt that the Peace Process …’, An Phoblacht/Republican News, 28 March 1996.
48 This is what TUAS allegedly stood for. See Moloney (note 42) p.423.
49 See Malachi O'Doherty, ‘Breeding schemes’, The Guardian, 13 April 2001.
50 Martin Meehan, interview with author, 30 November 2003.
51 See Kevin J. Kelley, The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the I.R.A., 2nd ed. (London: Zed Press 1988) p.355.
52 Some Sinn Fein councillors were active members of the IRA, such as Martin McCaughey, who was later shot dead by British security forces. See Peter Taylor, Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein (London: Bloomsbury 1997) pp.278–9.
53 Sharrock (note 43) p.206; also Liam Clarke, Broadening the Battelfield: The H-Blocks and the Rise of Sinn Fein (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan 1987) p.219.
54 Excerpt from an article written by IRA prisoners in 1988, quoted in Moloney (note 42) p.299.
55 See M.L.R. Smith, Fighting for Ireland? The Military Strategy of the Irish Republican Movement (London: Routledge 1995) pp.23–8.
56 See Brendan O'Brien, The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Fein, 1985 to Today (Dublin: The O'Brien Press 1993) p.226.
57 See ‘There Is Only One Way – and That Is Forward’, An Phoblacht/Republican News, 3 March 1994.
58 Smith (note 55) pp.6–9.
59 See Peter R. Neumann, Britain's Long War: British Strategy in the Northern Ireland Conflict, 1969–98 (New York and London: Palgrave 2003) pp.163–5.
60 Brian Feeney, Sinn Fein: A Hundred Turbulent Years (Dublin: O'Brien Press 2002) p.378.
61 Adams, quoted in Patterson (note 45) p.233.
62 According to an Irish government negotiator, these were the words expressed by Adams during his exchanges with a Dublin delegation; quoted in ibid. p.248.
63 Eamon Collins (with Mick McGovern), Killing Rage (London: Granta 1998) p.111.
64 Danny Morrison, interview with author, 3 December 2003.
65 See Irvin (note 15) p.27.
66 See Feeney (note 60) p.327.
67 Clarke (note 53) p.236.
68 For an overview of Northern Ireland election results, see <http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/election/elect.htm>.
69 Padraig O'Malley, Biting at the Grave: The Irish Hunger Strikes and the Politics of Despair (Belfast: Blackstaff 1990) p.240.
70 Adams, quoted in ibid. p.243.
71 See J. Bowyer Bell, The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army (London: Frank Cass 2000) p.135.
72 Adams, quoted in Irvin (note 15) p.101.
73 ‘IRA Man’, quoted in Patrick Bishop and Eamonn Mallie, The Provisional IRA (London: Corgi 1987) p.381.
74 For a more detailed explanation of IRA structures, see Max Taylor and John Horgan, ‘The Provisional Irish Republican Army: Command and Functional Structure’, Terrorism and Political Violence 9/3 (1997) pp.1–32.
75 Danny Morrison, interview with author, 3 December 2003.
76 Gibney, interviewed by Peter Taylor, available at <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/gibney.html>.
77 ‘Army Staff Report’, quoted in Coogan (note 35) p.581.
78 O'Brien, quoted in Patterson (note 45) p.210.
79 For the Bell case, see Bell (note 71) p.156; Clarke (note 53) p.218; Feeney (note 60) p.327; Smith (note 55) p.169.
80 ‘IRA source’, quoted in Moloney (note 42) p.390.
81 Ibid. p.419.
82 Kelly, quoted in ibid p.470.
83 Ibid. pp.20–2.
84 See Neumann (note 59) p.132.
85 Bill Lowry, former Head of Special Branch, Northern Ireland Police Service, interview with author, 2 March 2004.
86 Hughes, quoted in Peter Taylor, Brits: The War Against the IRA (London: Bloomsbury 2002) p.208.